Start date: 20 November 2019
End date: 30 November 2019
Location: Dambulla, Sri Lanka
Number of Participants: 20
Nationalities: 16
Executive Summary
The first Asian regional course on “Promoting People-Centred Approaches to Conservation of Nature & Culture” (PNC19) was organized jointly by ICCROM and IUCN as part of the WHL programme. The course activity was funded by the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea, while the WHL programme is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. The course was implemented with local support from the Department of Archaeology and the Central Cultural Fund of Sri Lanka.
The course brought together 20 participants from diverse backgrounds, representing 16 countries, of which 11 are in the Asia-Pacific region. Over ten days, participants interacted with 17 national and international resource people. The course aimed to balance the number of participants and instructors from the natural and cultural sectors, to ensure active understanding of nature and culture as an interconnected whole.
The course focused on providing participants with the knowledge, skills, and awareness necessary to work with diverse people and values when managing heritage places, including World Heritage. It also promoted long-term networks for life-long peer learning and enhanced capacity building in the heritage sector.
Moreover, the outcomes of this course, along with other initiatives within the WHL programme, contributed to consolidating people-centred approaches and nature-culture linkages throughout World Heritage processes.
