UNITAR Hiroshima Series on the Management and Conservation of World Heritage Sites 2010 Session: 18-23 April - Call for Applications

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is pleased to announce the call for applications for the Seventh Session in its Series on the Management and Conservation of World Heritage Sites, to take place between 18-23 April 2010, in Hiroshima, Japan. Entitled Conservation for Peace: World Heritage Conservation Monitoring, the Session will focus on issues surrounding the monitoring of World Heritage Sites, as required by the World Heritage Convention.

The Series aims to facilitate a further utilization of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention through providing both support to national policy-making and planning, as well as information exchange on best practices and case-studies. Newly developed “values-based management” methodologies are applied to all aspects of natural and cultural heritage management.

Specifically, the workshop will:
- Review the basics of the World Heritage regime and its implications for peace, incorporating current trends and updates;
- Elucidate the underlying principles of “values-based heritage management”, with a particular focus on Conservation Monitoring;
- Review the basics of World Heritage management planning;
- Examine leading policies and strategies, identifying best practices and lessons learned;
- Create long-term management plans for sites;
- Create or contribute to a manual for site managers on World Heritage management planning;
- Enhance long-term peer learning and exchange among the participants.

Study tours to two World Heritage sites in Hiroshima –the Atomic Bomb (Genbaku) Dome and the Itsukushima Shinto Shrine – will provide additional case studies and learning opportunities.

Twenty participants will be selected from actual or potential heritage site managers; natural/cultural conservation specialists and trainers; and decision makers and government officials within national world heritage administrations, i.e. Ministries of Environment, Culture, Forestry or Tourism, as well as national academic institutions, think-tanks and civil society.

Kindly submit the names of suitable candidates to participate in the training workshop for final selection by an ad hoc selection committee.

On-line applications are encouraged at: http://www.unitar.org/hiroshima/on-line_application_form/whs/10

In principle participants and/or their ministries/organizations are required to provide their own travel funding to and from Hiroshima. Accommodation, meals, study tours and tuition fees will be covered by UNITAR for the duration of the Session. There are a limited number of UNITAR scholarships which also cover travel costs, given in priority to participants from Least Developed Countries as defined by the United Nations.

The number of places being limited, those wishing to apply should do so as soon as possible and no later than 19 February 2010.

For further information, please refer to the attached leaflet and our website at: http://www.unitar.org/hiroshima/unitar-activities/world-heritage-sites

Should you have any questions, please contact Mr. Berin McKenzie at [email protected].

They have attached an Infonote for the 2010 Session, as well as Instructions for the Case Study and Letter of Motivation components of the application process.