Heritage Management in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

The programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) responds to the region’s important heritage, which includes 141 World Heritage sites with diverse and significant cultural expressions; many ancient cultures and subcultures; strong nature culture linkages and rich indigenous knowledge reserves; and innovative contemporary art.

This heritage faces threats caused by social, political, economic, and environmental factors, including climate change, natural hazards such as hurricanes, storms and earthquakes, mass tourism, rapid urbanization, governance issues, and lack of awareness and professional capacity opportunities.

LAC will focus on disaster risk management, in response to numerous recent catastrophic events and potential threats in the region. It will also consider the overall management of cultural heritage, including methodologies and tools for long-term planning, with a specific focus on impact assessments, people-centred approaches and linking nature and culture.

Momentum is growing worldwide to make conservation more sustainable, in view of the continuing and increasing challenges of climate change, rising urbanization, and a perceived reduction in available resources. The aim is to foster resilience among heritage institutions and conservation professionals, so they can take advantage of existing opportunities, understand complex future challenges, and champion sustainable development.

Spanish and Portuguese will be the primary languages of LAC’s activities to promote wider inclusion of conservation professionals as well as professionals from other fields.