Project
UNESCO Designations and Sustainable Development
The main objective of the Academy is to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, through the advancement of institutional and professional capacities of managing authorities, communities and relevant operators from different UNESCO designations under both the Culture and Natural Sciences sectors, including: World Heritage properties, Biosphere Reserves, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Global Geoparks, and elements inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists and Register.
The Academy also aims at reinforcing synergies between different designations and designated sites, especially at local level, through networking, cooperation and integrated management, based on their shared objectives to contribute to UNESCO’s mission with regard to building peace and fostering sustainable development. The Academy was launched in 2015 with a first international workshop, organized jointly with the exhibition "Behind Food Sustainability", as a pilot program on the double occasion of the United Nations Development Programme "III International Forum on Local Economic Development" and of the EXPO Milan, in collaboration with the United Nations System Staff College and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization.
Since then, 4 more annual regional workshops were organised, with a specific methodology combining presentations by participants, front lectures, panel discussions, site visits to case studies and meetings with local stakeholders in UNESCO designated sites, in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions (Italy).
