All About World Heritage Sites
The term ‘Heritage’ refers to inherited norms, ethics, cultures, traditions, establishments, monuments, objects, etc. Whereas the term ‘World Heritage Site’ includes any human-made or natural site which possesses a higher degree of influential context in terms of consisting outstanding global value, as acknowledged by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (NPS.gov, 2021). A World Heritage Site is a very old establishment or place which retains the capability to manifest an incredible achievement of humanity while providing substantial affirmation of human’s rational past on the planet. Besides, it also can be a phenomenal place with exceptional natural beauty. In short, the value of a world heritage site denies the boundaries between different countries and directs the global population to find the social, cultural, economical, etc. characteristics of a certain population group in the earlier period. Considering the present struggling situation of preserving those sites, this paper intends to signify the importance of the retainment of those sites in the original formation within modern society.
From the beginning of human civilization, people had designated a significant amount of establishments or sites for performing various cultural and social activities as per their ancestors’ beliefs, norms, ethics, practices, and so on. Those establishments or sites were significant for that particular population group during the earlier period. With the passage of time, people destroyed countless sites that were carrying values in terms of message, artistic work, component organization, retainment of originality, etc. World Heritage Sites are for the global population, not only for that specific population group. Scientists and scholars have become more concerned about such destruction and asked for the adaptation of a global policy that rejects any kind of destruction of those old and important sites. More precisely, the concept of declaration of some sites as World Heritage was proposed soon after the end of WW II. The issue of the destruction of old and significant natural or man-made marvels became a crucial matter. The concept of preserving and protecting those natural or man-made marvels by tagging them as a World Heritage site became significant when Ramses II temple in Egypt was intended to destroy for the construction of the Aswan Dam in 1959, (norgesverdensarv.no, no date). Historians, anthropologists, and scholars from various disciplines shout back against such destruction to import modernization within the respective community or society. The concept finally got acknowledgment from UNESCO with the support of twenty countries. In 1972, UNESCO provided a structural formation to protect the cultural values and natural beauties in the original formation, which was started to implement in 1975 after numerous ratification, (Britannica, 2018). However, world heritage sites consist of at least three fundamental criteria; cultural, natural, and mixed. Among them, cultural heritage sites receive greater significance than the other two. Examples of cultural heritage sites can be old temples, buildings, monuments, sculptures, paintings, artistic works, historically significant objects, etc. In contrast, natural sites possess the earth’s geological process, unique ecological and biological endeavors, and rare natural phenomena. Lastly, the mixed versions are the combination of historical establishment within a phenomenon’s natural context. As an example, the hill-top temples, pyramids in the deserts, graveyards in the mountain, etc. created by humans in the earlier period are also considered mixed versions of world heritage sites. Unfortunately, it has been observed that people and organizations are more interested to deal with the cultural heritage sites while putting degraded significance towards the natural marvels.
In consideration of the current context, most of the man-made establishments still have nearly the same formation and style, whereas the natural heritage sites are struggling to remain the same. Natural World Heritage sites provide crucial habitats to many iconic species, as well as protect rare ecological processes and stunning landscapes, (iucn.org, no date). Besides, the retainment of natural heritage sites in their original form is essential as those are also significantly counted for their contribution to economic, stable weathering conditions, and the overall betterment of human life on the earth. However, there are 252 natural world heritage sites acknowledged by UNESCO and the respective countries have also become agreed to meet the guideline to protect and preserve those natural marvels. Furthermore, cultural world heritage sites are designated to represent and reshape values, norms, ethics, and so on; leading toward defining the respective population group’s identity. Most importantly, preserve of cultural world heritage sites is essential due to its influential capabilities to retain the integrity of human beings among all the living components of nature. The tangible or intangible heritage possesses the positive characteristics to influence the current social and cultural context significantly. Apart from the historical and cultural significance, a world heritage site contributes to society in various ways. Having a world heritage site within a community enables the opportunity to increase revenue from the hospitality and tourism perspective. If a site is declared a world heritage site, it attracts a vital amount of tourists every year to get the essence of the life of the respective ancient population group. So, it is very clear that having a world heritage site is economically beneficial for the country and the businesses. Again, it assists to reduce the unemployment rate as the tourists are always in need of assistance in case of accommodation, transportation, guiding the tour, knowing any particular matter in detail, and many more. Moreover, consisting of a world heritage site is considered beneficial for a country as it provides a great opportunity to be renowned among the worldwide population. In addition, exploration and experiments on those world heritage sites allow modern society to understand the process of diversification i.e. transposition within the depicted practices as time passed by. Again, scholars can find out crucial information and data from that period regarding any critical issue or problem associated with their resolution strategies. Scholars can easily relate modern days problems with those while importing the centuries-old approach to resolve the issue.
In this contemporary world, the radical advancement in technology and globalization have been resultant in the free movement of goods and people globally. The outcome can be termed as more business opportunities and an increment in revenue generation. In this way, tourism and hospitality become crucial matters for each and every country in the world. Following this, the tourism market becomes crucial for the country’s economy. The earnings from the tourism sector become interconnected with the country’s unemployment rate, global reputation, economic growth, infrastructure development, and many more. So, the massive advertising context and promotional activities result in attracting more and more tourists day by day. The industry become huge, the tourism market size was valued at $69.5 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $106.9 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2019 to 2026, (Kadam and Deshmukh, 2019). As mentioned earlier, visiting a world heritage site is worthy enough to meet an individual’s queries while having an in-depth understanding of the life of people of that period and the respective transposition process. Besides gaining knowledge and information, many people just visit those sites to pass their vacation and have quality time with family or friends, or alone. Though it has a positive impact on the country’s economy, the maintenance of the site’s components in their original form becomes a threatening situation. Most tourist visits the world heritage site without being aware of the sensitivity of those old components of a whole establishment or ecosystem. Most people are careless about maintaining the rules and regulations of visiting a world heritage site because for them these places are just like other tourist spots. The massive tourism activities within the world heritage sites are basically running the old marvels. More tourists mean more waste generation, leading to the destruction of the natural or original environmental context. Also, every footstep or touch results in decaying the surface of the construction material, making the establishment weak and making the restoration process ineffective. Furthermore, mass tourism results in transposition within the surrounding environmental context. So, the natural or cultural, or mixed world heritage sites are now under a great threat to their existence due to the current money-oriented society, which will not be going to allow lessening the amount of financial gain through tourism. As a result, under-developed, developing, and poor countries are struggling to find out a balancing segment between the preservation process and active tourism.
World heritage sites are not only the property of a certain country, but it is the property of the worldwide population. In the case of protection and preservation, the developed countries are capable to allocate an adequate amount of funds. But, under-developed, developing, and poor countries are unable to allocate sufficient funds to recruit manpower, initiate a restoration process, restrict the tourist numbers considering the business gain, and many more. In such a scenario, the developed countries and various designated non-profit organizations must need to help those countries to retain the world heritage site in their original formation by having appropriate monitoring and controlling processes. However, the visitor of a world heritage site must need to be trained and educated before the initiation of the visit. Also, brochures with mentioning rules and regulations may help the tourists to avoid any kind of discrepancy or inappropriate act. World heritage sites are the pride of a country. The government, organizations, and citizens should be aware of the value of those sites and need to become cooperative with the authority.
