UNESCO Regional Workshop on Periodic Reporting Follow-up for North-East and South-East Asia

The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage of Malaysia and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre are jointly organizing a Regional Workshop as a follow-up to the 2003 Periodic Reporting exercise for North-East and South-East Asia, from 12 to 16 December 2005 in Malacca, Malaysia.

Between 1997 and 2003, States Parties of the Asia and Pacific region, in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee (ICOMOS, IUCN and ICCROM), carried out the first cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise, by which the States Parties reported on the application of the World Heritage Convention and the state of conservation of specific World Heritage properties inscribed on the World Heritage List up to and including 1994. In addition, States Parties were requested to provide up-dated information on management and administrative arrangements, on factors affecting the property and on existing monitoring mechanisms.

OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP

• provide the participants with a Forum to exchange opinions and concerns on the issues pertaining to the conservation and management of cultural World Heritage in North-East and South-East Asia;
• based on the findings of the first cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise, elaborate action plans in line with four strategic objectives adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 2002 (Credibility, Conservation, Capacity-building and Communication) to address the needs of States Parties concerned;
• Present some specific case studies on the challenges in the conservation of cultural World Heritage, such as tourism pressure and inadequate visitor management, site management planning and monitoring mechanisms;

PARTICIPANTS

National focal points from countries in North-East and South-East Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, DPR of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The participants will also include site managers and experts from each State Party in North-East and South-East Asia, as well as international experts in heritage management and new technology application.