News
First Session of “New Horizons of Heritage Conservation” Online Webinar Series
On 20 May 2022, the first session of the “New Horizons of Heritage Conservation” online webinar series jointly organized by UNESCO Beijing Office and Communication University of China was successfully organized via Zoom, with livestreaming via the official WeChat Video platform of “Heritage So Young”.
This webinar series was launched within the framework of UNESCO - China Youth Development Foundation Mercedes-Benz Star Fund “Conservation and Management of World Heritage Sites in China” Project Phase IV (2021-2024) and in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. It aims to provide World Heritage site managers, intangible cultural bearers, local communities, culture experts and practitioners, youth and interested public with up-to-date knowledge and good practices in the context of China on how to effectively manage and utilize culture and heritage for sustainable socio-economic and environmental development, and create an exchange platform on how to respond to challenges and develop innovative solutions.
The first session of the webinar series focused on the theme of “Communicating Heritage Value Through New Media”, especially on the understanding and outreach of heritage values in the contemporary society. The next three sessions in the months to come will focus on other cutting-edge topics on World Heritage. As we face increasing challenges in traditional ways of knowledge sharing due to the pandemic, addressing the role of new media for the first webinar session bears special importance.
Prof Shahbaz Khan pointed out in his opening remarks that the year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of UNESCO’s Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which comes at a watershed moment for conservation. The effects of climate change have been tangibly felt by sites around the world, while the tourism development has put new environmental and social pressure on the properties and surrounding communities alike. He invited the international society to reflect on the issues of climate change and gender equality in heritage conservation, and emphasized the importance of joining forces together to build capacity for the next generation, harness new trends and transformation, and pass on the knowledge in "The Next 50".
Prof Duan Peng presented on the topic of "The Power of Communication in Heritage Conservation" to highlight the importance of this webinar. He emphasized that it was precisely because of vibrant new media platforms that the civil society became more aware and took more ownership in heritage conservation and safeguarding. In an internet society, the positive potential of media in social development becomes increasingly prominent, and heritage conservation also needs to form stronger synergies with the media, in order to maximize the impact of culture on sustainable development. He pointed out that communication revitalizes heritage values, and media and new technologies open up more possibilities in heritage conservation and development
In the keynote session, three experts presented from the perspectives of community-building, technological innovation and civil society engagement.
Prof Song Junhua presented on the topic of "Heritage Conservation and Community-building", and discussed the co-relevance of the two subjects. Using case studies, he demonstrated that practicing living heritage identification, presentation, safeguarding and transmission help generate solidarity and shared cultural memories of communities, and effectively contribute to both social cohesion and heritage safeguarding, which are the foundation of building a shared destiny for humankind.
Mr. Dai Bin introduced Tencent's digital solutions in heritage safeguarding from the dimensions of charity donation, neo-cultural creativity and technological intervention. He illustrated that the involvement of internet companies in cultural heritage safeguarding is a trend worldwide not only because it is a part of corporate social responsibility, but there are intrinsic similarities between the two in terms of information management and sharing. Tencent is experimenting with new technologies to enhance the digitization, communication and exhibition of cultural heritage.
Prof Yang Hong presented on the topic of "Heritage Conservation: The Public Participatory Era", incorporating key findings in the recently developed thematic report on heritage communication through new media within the collaboration framework with UNESCO under the "Conservation and Management of World Heritage Sites in China" project. She pointed out that enhancing civil society participation is in line with the Culture|2030 indicators. Based on an analysis of the current mechanisms of how new media contribute to civil society engagement in heritage safeguarding and communication, she noted that as media communication becomes quotidian, we need to further explore how to enable heritage values contribute to internet governance and new sources of creativity.
In the Q&A session, participants raised various questions on UNESCO’s experience in sustainable livelihood activity implementation, collaborations between private sector companies and cultural and museum institutions, and the role of new media in restoring the integrity between heritage and communities. Ms. Himalchuli Gurung, Programme Specialist for Culture of UNESCO Beijing Office, Mr. Dai Bin and Prof Yang Hong responded to the questions.
Starting from the perspective of heritage value communication, it is hoped that the webinars would join stakeholders together to reflect on new horizons of heritage conservation and demonstrate the transformative potential of culture and heritage in sustainable development. The webinar series plan to collaborate with other leader agencies including the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, ICOMOS China, Sun Yat-sen University and INBAR, with support from UNESCO Headquarters and the World Heritage Centre, to discuss pressing issues such as heritage conservation, sustainable tourism and climate change, and to generate more systematic and cutting-edge insights and solutions to World Heritage conservation and sustainable development.
