Saving Our Vanishing Heritage
Ayutthaya, Thailand. Source: Brian Beggarly.
Executive Summary
Saving Our Vanishing Heritage is a critical call to action alerting the international community on the need to focus precious investment on global heritage conservation, a strategy that has proven to be one of the most effective and targeted ways to help alleviate poverty by creating long-term jobs, income, and recurring investment in developing countries.
Vanishing found that of the approximately 500 global heritage sites in 100 of the lowest-income countries of the world—places where the per capita income is less than $3 to $5 a day—over 200 are facing irreversible loss and damage today. The trend of loss is accelerating due to the simultaneous manmade threats of development pressures, unsustainable tourism, insufficient management, looting, and war and conflict. Fewer than 80 of these sites are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The rest are without international recognition.
The unfavorable imbalance in the UNESCO World Heritage List against the developing world is a key reason for lack of corresponding funding and assistance to enable preservation and protection of sites in these countries. While Italy and Spain have 44 and 41 cultural UNESCO World Heritage designations, respectively, Peru—with 4,000 years of history and hundreds of important cultural sites—has only nine. Guatemala, the cradle of Mayan civilization with the world’s largest pyramids and ancient cities, has just three.
Saving Our Vanishing Heritage brings new urgency and focus to our global heritage in peril.
Vanishing was developed in collaboration with an Editorial Committee comprised of 24 leading experts in heritage conservation and international development from leading universities, preservation groups, international agencies, and the private sector.
To read more, download the full Report on the right.
