Course on Impact Assessments for Heritage - logos

 

Organizers

Host

Zhenze Town Government

Background

Course on Impact Assessments for Heritage

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). While recognizing 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 (SEA, EIA, HIA) 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 organizations 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 SEA, EIA, or HIA by the World Heritage Committee.

Working Language

English

Certificate

A certificate of attendance given by ICCROM and WHITRAP will be awarded to participants who satisfactorily complete the course.

Course Fee

950 USD

Travel, accommodation and living expenses

Participants will be responsible for their international travel costs to and from the training venue. In order to cover accommodation and living expenses during the course, participants should plan for a minimum allowance of 800USD for two weeks.

Scholarship

WHITRAP will offer a limited number of scholarships to candidates from the State Parties in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Application

  • Application form
  • A 500-750 words report which includes the descriptions of the property/World Heritage Site and an indication of potential development/tourism/infrastructure activities that in your view could threaten the values/OUV of the site.
    Alternatively, a 500-750 words report on the experience of conducting/participating in an impact assessment study.

Correspondence

Please send all application documents with the subject of “2018 IA application” by email. All correspondence concerning the above course should be addressed in English to:

Ms. Hong LI

World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO, Shanghai Centre

3rd Floor Wen Yuan Building, 1239 Siping Rd., Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, P.R.China.

Tel: 0086 21 65987687 ext. 8010; Fax: 0086 21 65982058;

Email: training@whitr-ap.org; Website: www.whitra-ap.org