ICCROM-WHITRAP Course on Impact Assessment for Heritage 2018

Organised by the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO, Shanghai Centre (WHITRAP) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), a Course on Impact Assessments for Heritage will be held in Shanghai and Jiangsu Zhenze, China, between 15 and 26 October 2018. Registration is now open.

Background

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has observed that many activities such as tourism, infrastructure development, new buildings, urban renewal and changes to the land use being undertaken in and around World Heritage sites may have negative impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of World Heritage. While recognising the vital role of such activities for providing benefits to the society, the Committee has stressed the need to undertake Impact Assessment studies, in order to assess the potential negative and positive impacts on heritage sites. As part of its mandate to build capacities of State Parties to the World Heritage Convention, WHITRAP together with ICCROM has organized four training courses in the past, and is pleased to announce its fifth version on Impact Assessments to be held in October 2018. This year, the course is also linked to the World Heritage Leadership programme in order to expand its focus on all forms of Impact Assessments and also the promote the benefits of linking nature and culture in managing heritage. The World Heritage Leadership Programme is a capacity-building programme delivered by IUCN and ICCROM in collaboration with ICOMOS and WHC and other organisations and is implemented with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment and other partners. It focuses on promoting links between people-nature-culture in the management of heritage places and securing for heritage a more dynamic role in wider sustainable development. One of the key modules of the Programme is impact assessment, which aims to build the capacity to efficiently use impact assessment tools to support heritage conservation actions. The Programme will work on adapting methodologies and standards for assessing impacts on World Heritage sites specifically and conduct diverse capacity building activities. The course will be held at Zhenze Historic Town (near Shanghai) which is listed in the national Tentative List of China with other 13 waterfront towns.

Objectives

To provide participants with knowledge on management and monitoring requirements, and reporting mechanism for World Heritage properties.
To enable participants to understand the benefits of linking nature and culture and the role of Impact Assessments in heritage management planning.
To equip the participants with current knowledge and skills in using Impact Assessment as a tool for evaluating impacts from various factors affecting heritage in general and World Heritage sites in particular.
To promote the exchange of experiences and information in heritage management and conservation among practitioners.

Participants

The training is designed for a maximum of 20 participants. Priority is given to:

Mid-career heritage practitioners/decision makers interested in engaging in Impact Assessments studies;
Officials whose State Party has been requested to conduct Impact Assessments (SEA, EIA, or HIA) by the World Heritage Committee.

The working language of the course is English