- Start date: 25 June 2019
- End date: 04 July 2019
- Location: 43rd World Heritage Committee, Baku, Azerbaijan
- Number of Participants: 60
- States Parties: 41
Executive Summary
The third Site Managers’ Forum was held in Baku, Azerbaijan with the generous funding of the host country supporting 20 participants from least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS). The WHL programme worked very closely with the World Heritage Centre and the Azeri Ministry of Culture to organize the forum.
The theme of the Forum was “Towards Sustainable Heritage Management” and a joint afternoon session with the Young Professionals Forum was organized on 29 June 2019. This edition of the forum evolved further to utilize the host location as a case study for group work. The participants were able to explore Baku as part of the forum agenda and incorporate it into the group work exercise of envisioning the future of Baku and how heritage would be contributing to the city in 50 years.
The participants were given the opportunity to attend the plenary sessions of the World Heritage Committee when the State of Conservation reports were being discussed, so that they would have first-hand knowledge of how items were discussed during the Committee session.
The statement produced at the forum recalled the World Heritage Capacity Building Strategy adopted in 2011, and called upon the national, regional and local level entities to actively implement the strategy. It highlighted the need for capacity building, required at all levels of site management, ranging through the different institutions and communities, and including all those involved in the process operating at national, regional and local levels.
The statement further emphasized the importance of empowering the site managers as critically important collaborators in the conservation and management of World Heritage sites, calling upon States Parties to include site managers in their official delegations to the World Heritage Committee. It acknowledged that communication is a fundamental component of capacity building and highlighted the importance of keeping the momentum of the Site Managers' Forum not only on the international scene, but also at regional and national levels.