Release of the publication World Heritage for Sustainable Development in Africa

This new UNESCO publication examines World Heritage and sustainable development in Africa. It addresses not only the challenges of safeguarding World Heritage in the Africa region but also the process of integrating the objectives of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into African regional and national policies as well as the African Union’s ‘Agenda 2063: the Africa We Want’.

The publication emerged from the UNESCO international conference on “Safeguarding African World Heritage as a Driver of Sustainable Development”, which was organized jointly by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism of the government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the People’s Republic of China, in Arusha (Tanzania) from 31 May to 3 June 2016.

The Ngorongoro Declaration on Safeguarding African World Heritage as a Driver of Sustainable Development, adopted on 4 June 2016, during the conference, constitutes a model for World Heritage and sustainable development. In this regard, the new publication will help to analyze on a wider scale the different dynamics affecting the African continent and to take stock of World Heritage and sustainable development in Africa.

The 28 articles featured in this publication provide an enlightening account of experiences of heritage professionals in Africa and elsewhere. By addressing the themes of environmental sustainability, inclusive social development and inclusive economic development, the publication will be useful to States Parties and local stakeholders as a tool to demonstrate how World Heritage can be an effective lever for sustainable development.