Unesco World Heritage in Southeast Asia

The Unesco World Heritage list recognises sites of global significance

To cite this page: Tan, Noel Hidalgo (2021, Updated 24 September 2023) Unesco World Heritage in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian Archaeology. Available at: https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/unesco-world-heritage-in-southeast-asia/
If you found this page useful, consider showing support by Buying me a Coffee.
Overview
Overview
Recommended Books and Readings
Recommended Books
Most Popular Posts
Most Popular Posts
News Archive
News Archive
Links to other websites
Links to other websites
Online Lecture Library
A searchable collection on publicly-available lectures
Virtual Archaeology
Archaeological sites and museums you can visit online
Archaeological Projects in Southeast Asia
A list of past and present archaeological project websites
Journals and Scholarly Research
Scholarly research and a list of Southeast Asian archaeology journals
Tools and Software
Field work equipment and digital tool recommendations, with many available for free.
Job postings, scholarships and funding opportunities
Job postings, scholarships and funding opportunities

Overview

The 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage outlines the kind of sites that can be recognised as World Heritage. With over 1,100 sites recognised around the world, the World Heritage list is administered by Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

As of 2019, there are 41 Unesco World HeritageSites in Southeast Asia: 27 cultural, 13 natural and one mixed. Most archaeological sites fall under the cultural category, and are open to tourists. They are:

In addition to the official list, there are many other sites on the Tentative List:

Sites submitted for nomination must meet one or more of the ten following criteria:

 

1. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;

2. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

3. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

4. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

5. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

6. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.

7. to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

8. to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

9. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

10. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation

Source: Unesco “Criteria for Selection”

Only countries (‘state parties’) who have signed the World Heritage convention may nominate a site for inclusion into the list. The process is fairly straightforward, but can be time-consuming because of the depth of documentation and research that is required. First, sites are put into the Tentative List which signals a country’s intention to nominate a site in the future. Next, the state party prepares a nomination file for the site, which includes extensive documentation, research, histories and maps that justifies the site’s inclusion into the list.

The dossier is then reviewed by up to three advisory bodies: the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). Once these bodies have completed their evaluations, the reports are returned to the World Heritage Committee who will make the final decision to accept or reject the nomination. The committee can also choose to defer the decision or request for more information from the state parties. These decisions are announced at the annual World Heritage Committee meeting.

In more recent years, Unesco has moved to recognise other forms of heritage, such as Intangible Cultural Heritage, Global Geoparks, Creative Cities, and the Memory of the World.

Recommended Books

These are books related to the Unesco World Heritage in Southeast Asia, with an emphasis on the convention and its effects rather than on the sites themselves. Some of these links are affiliate links and I may receive a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. For other sources of reliable academic information, you should also check out the books page for latest releases and the occassional free book, as well as the journals page for the latest scientific research.

Last update on 2024-03-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Popular Posts

These links are dynamically generated and are based on the most viewed posts in the last 30 days.

No Content Available

Unesco World Heritage in the news

News reports about Unesco World Heritage in Southeast Asia. The news reports indexed below usually link to external sites that were active at the time of posting; sometimes websites may be temporarily down or may have reorganised their underlying architecture or have even closed down – in these cases the links may not be available. Most of the news articles archived are in English, although when I am made aware of stories in this and other languages I try to index them.

External Links

These are links to external sites and unless stated, I have no connection with the organisations or entities in these links or control over their content. They are sorted alphabetically, but you should also explore the Resources page which have links sorted by themes. If you have a link to suggest, please get in touch!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.