World Heritage Sites: Importance and Adverse Effects

This report explores the history, significance, and adverse effects of World Heritage Sites. It discusses the socio-cultural and economic advantages of being declared a World Heritage Site and provides recommendations to address the challenges. The report also covers the types of heritage sites and the selection process. The content is relevant to the module 'Academic Writing for Business and Management' at Canterbury Christ Church University.

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Module code and title: Academic Writing for Business and Management
Module leader: Faria Tofail
Student Name:
Student ID:
Canterbury Christ Church, University

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Contents
1. World Heritage Site.............................................................................................................................3
1.1 History and Background of World Heritage Site...............................................................................3
1.2 How the Idea of Heritage Sites Started?............................................................................................3
1.3 Types of Heritage Sites......................................................................................................................4
1.4 Selection Process...............................................................................................................................4
1.5 World Heritage List Nominations......................................................................................................5
2. Socio-cultural and economic advantages to a place being declared as a World Heritage Site.............5
2.1 Importance of historical preservation................................................................................................5
3. Adverse impacts of the World Heritage Sites and relate it to the tourism industry..............................6
3.1 World Heritage in Danger..................................................................................................................7
3.2 Recommendations.............................................................................................................................7
4. Conclusions.........................................................................................................................................8
5. References...........................................................................................................................................9

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1. World Heritage Site
World Heritage site, some of the different objects or areas inscribed on the UN (United Nations)
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/UNESCO World Heritage Record. The sites
tend to be specified as having exceptional global worth within the Convention Concerning the
Protection associated with the Worldwide Natural and Cultural Heritage. It was claimed by the
UN (United Nations) Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1972 as well as
officially got an effect in 1975 right after being ratified by twenty nations around the world. It
possesses a structure for worldwide co-operation in protecting and preserving cultural
destinations as well as natural places around the world (Frey et al., 2013). This report aims to put
a light on the World Heritage Sites, their importance as well as the adverse effects of World
Heritage Sites and recommendations to solve the issues.
1.1 History and Background of World Heritage Site
The idea of World Heritage had been introduced right after World War 2 when among the most
distinctive cultural ancient monuments on the globe, the Ramses-II temple at Abu Simbel, had
been insecure through deterioration throughout the development of the Aswan Dam in Egypt in
the nineties. On the sixteenth Nov 1972, UNESCO followed a conference regarding the World’s
cultural and natural heritage. The conference would aim to secure the locations in the arena of
exceptional global worth that belongs to all humanity (Jokilehto, 2006).
1.2 How the Idea of Heritage Sites Started?
The USA commenced the concept of guarding locations of high natural and cultural relevance. A
White-House convention in 1965 requested for a World Heritage Trust to protect the globe's
outstanding natural as well as beautiful places and historic sites for the current as well as the near
future of the whole world population. The Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature created
related plans in 1968 that had been introduced in 1972 towards the UN Convention on the
Human Environment in Stockholm. In the World Heritage Panel, signatory nations around the
world are needed to generate as well as send regular data reports to the committee with a
summary of every participating country's implementation regarding the World Heritage

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Convention along with a snapshot of present circumstances at World Heritage attributes (Labadi,
2017).
1.3 Types of Heritage Sites
There are 3 kinds of sites: natural, mixed and cultural. Cultural heritage sites include things like
countless historical structures as well as town sites, essential historical sites, and functions of
amazing statues or artwork. Natural heritage sites tend to be limited to those natural places that
(1) provide exceptional types of Earth’s history of life or even its geologic procedures, and (2)
offer superb types of continuing environmental as well as natural transformative procedures.
Mixed heritage sites include aspects of both all-natural and cultural importance. The number of
cultural to all-natural sites on the World Heritage List is approximately 3-1 (Leask and Fyall,
2006).
1.4 Selection Process
 In order to signify a work of art of human artistic genius;
 To demonstrate an essential interchange of individual values, on the length of time or in a
social area of the globe, on advancements in structures or technologies, amazing arts,
landscaping;
 To keep a distinctive or outstanding statement towards social traditions or a civilization it is
living or that has vanished;
 To become a superb illustration of a kind of building, design or technical landscaping it
demonstrates substantial procedures in history (Adie, 2017);
 Being a superb illustration of a conventional individual settlement, sea-use that is associated
with a culture;
 Being immediately connected with occasions or living customs, with concepts, or with
thinking, with creative and fictional works of exceptional global importance;
 To include outstanding all-natural phenomena or regions of excellent pure beauty and visual
relevance;
 Being exceptional illustrations symbolizing main phases of the world's history, such as the
history of life, substantial ongoing geological procedures within the progression of land-
forms, or substantial physiographic attributes;

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 Being exceptional illustrations symbolizing important ongoing environmental and natural
procedures within the development of freshwater, seaside and underwater environments
(Bertacchini and Saccone, 2012);
1.5 World Heritage List Nominations
Just nations around the world which have agreed upon the World Heritage Convention,
promising to guard their all-natural and cultural heritage, may send nomination plans with regard
to attributes in their area that need considering for addition to UNESCO’s World Heritage List
(Atakuman, 2010).
 Nomination procedure
 Preliminary Record
 The Nomination Document
 The Advisory Systems
 The World Heritage Board
 The Requirements for Decision
2. Socio-cultural and economic advantages to a place being declared as
a World Heritage Site
2.1 Importance of historical preservation
Preservation includes more than just preserving and rejuvenating a vintage building as well as
sites of historical significance. There are substantial ecological, cultural, financial and academic
advantages to protecting as well as rejuvenating historical property. Buildings of historical
attention appeal to individuals worldwide. It may be due to the building's historical origins, the
materials utilized the special structures or several particular embellished corners that individuals
find interesting. Historical and listed buildings increase travel and leisure, provide occupations as
well as rejuvenate communities (Tyler et al., 2018).
Natural and cultural heritage isn't just an important origin of identification and motivation,
however also an important motivator for sustainable improvement.

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The 2030 Plan for Sustainable Development represents an important step of progress for
sustainable development in several areas, especially for heritage as it's the 1st time that the
worldwide progress plan describes the culture in the structure of Sustainable Development Goals
associated with knowledge, sustainable towns, food safety, the atmosphere, financial
development, sustainable usage as well as manufacturing patterns, tranquil and comprehensive
communities.
The lately adopted Coverage on the incorporation of the sustainable development viewpoint in
the procedures of the Convention (used through the World Heritage Assembly in 2015) offers a
chance to much better acknowledge as well as to measure the socio-economic effect of World
Heritage. The Policy is aimed at helping Regions' Parties, professionals, organizations,
communities, as well as systems, to utilize the opportunity of World Heritage, attributes and
heritage generally, to bring about sustainable development. The UNESCO World Heritage
Centre worked for several years on the process of financial influences on the World Heritage
record. It has requested research and took part in meetings and courses to research the
conversation among economics and cultural and natural heritage. In similar, numerous research
studies had been completed by experts, educational institutions and curious stakeholders
examining the relationship among the World Heritage record and financial development
(VanBlarcom and Kayahan, 2011).
Research shows that the World Heritage position may have a significant socio-economic effect.
For example, in a current report posted in 2015, the United Kingdom National Commission for
UNESCO discovers that UNESCO projects in Scotland created around £ 10.8-million from Apr
2014 to Mar 2015 via their connection with UNESCO.
3. Adverse impacts of the World Heritage Sites and relate it to the
tourism industry
Although lots of benefits may come through tourism to World Heritage Sites, it's not without its
disadvantages. In lots of places, especially in the third world, renowned sites don't have the
facilities to aid the number of visitors visiting in a given time or period. Whenever the site’s
tourist capability is surpassed, unfavorable effects may occur. Ecological destruction, harm to

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ancient monuments or even artwork, interruption of environments, displacement of residents, and
interruption of their accessibility to their particular historical or religious sources and traditions
all of these are possibly unfavorable effects that might occur because a lot of tourists. In a
nutshell, the outward symptoms of over tourism are adequate to warn the existence and ethics of
the sites becoming visited the sites that have been developed to be necessary to the worldwide
patrimony of all the individuals’ worldwide (De Luca et l., 2020).
3.1 World Heritage in Danger
UNESCO does sustain a set of sites threatened, known as World Heritage in Danger, for sites
which are insecure through particular circumstances specified by the Convention. Presently,
there are fifty-four sites out there. Neither Venice nor Machu Picchu is presently outlined,
however, both sites are under concern for the record if circumstances don't boost quickly.
About the destination level, several sites tend to be instituting caps around the range of tourists
who'll be able to connect to the site daily, 1 week, 30 days or even a year. This decrease in the
tourists may reduce stress on the area infrastructure, and provide delicate ancient monuments or
even environments extra space to relax. Various other sites, for example, Machu Picchu in
Angkor Wat and Peru in Cambodia, are restricting which regions of the ancient monuments can
be found to tourists and therefore are posting safeguards to ensure that visitors remain in the
specified areas (Scuttari et al., 2019). Machu Picchu takes the additional step of providing
tourists with particular time slots for the trips, as well as needing tourists to be associated with
certified guides, to make sure that there are not a lot of people found at once which tourists are
following all rules.
3.2 Recommendations
To guard the globe’s natural World Heritage sites against developing risks, investing in their
safety as well as supervision is essential. It is a combined obligation discussed by government
authorities, civil society, communities and local individuals.
The condition of preservation of natural World Heritage sites must be assessed to recognize
probably the most insecure sites, which is where international and national preservation
initiatives must concentrate 1st. World Heritage sites, as being the planet’s most safeguarded

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areas, should have the best supervision if they're to get an optimistic perspective (Buckley,
2018).
IUCN stands out on the adoption of World Heritage specific objectives within the post 2020
schedule of the Conference on Biological Diversity as a good way to drive bio-diversity
preservation actions. The IUCN World Heritage Perspective also provides a powerful tool for
calculating improvement with time, because it monitors alterations in the sites’ safety and
supervision, risks as well as natural values.
4. Conclusions
It is essential to sustain World Heritage sites as they offer essential environments to a lot of
renowned species, and protect unusual environmental procedures and spectacular landscapes.
Additionally, they give rise to financial systems, climate stableness as well as human wellbeing.
2/3 of natural sites on the World Heritage Record are important reasons for water, contributing to
half to preventing disasters for example landslides or floods (Borges et al., 2011). Woodlands
seen in World Heritage sites throughout the exotic areas store approximately 5.7-billion tons of
carbon dioxide higher forest bio-mass carbon denseness on average in comparison to the leftover
safeguarded area system.

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5. References
Adie, B.A., 2017. Franchising our heritage: The UNESCO world heritage brand. Tourism
Management Perspectives, 24, pp.48-53.
Atakuman, Ç., 2010. Value of heritage in Turkey: History and politics of Turkey’s world
heritage nominations. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 23(1), pp.107-31.
Bertacchini, E.E. and Saccone, D., 2012. Toward a political economy of World Heritage. Journal
of cultural economics, 36(4), pp.327-352.
Borges, M.A., Carbone, G., Bushell, R. and Jaeger, T., 2011. Sustainable tourism and natural
World Heritage: Priorities for action. IUCN.
Buckley, R., 2018. Tourism and natural World Heritage: A complicated relationship. Journal of
Travel Research, 57(5), pp.563-578.
De Luca, G., Shirvani Dastgerdi, A., Francini, C. and Liberatore, G., 2020. Sustainable cultural
heritage planning and management of overtourism in art cities: Lessons from atlas world
heritage. Sustainability, 12(9), p.3929.
Frey, B.S., Pamini, P. and Steiner, L., 2013. Explaining the World Heritage List: an empirical
study. International Review of Economics, 60(1), pp.1-19.
Jokilehto, J., 2006. World Heritage: Defining the outstanding universal value. City & time, 2(2),
pp.1-10.
Labadi, S., 2017. UNESCO, world heritage, and sustainable development: International
discourses and local impacts. In Collision or collaboration (pp. 45-60). Springer, Cham.
Leask, A. and Fyall, A., 2006. Managing world heritage sites. Routledge.
Scuttari, Anna, Giulia Isetti, and Daria Habicher. "Visitor management in world heritage sites:
Does overtourism-driven traffic management affect tourist targets, behaviour and satisfaction?:
The case of the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site, Italy." In Overtourism, pp. 187-205.
Routledge, 2019.

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Tyler, N., Tyler, I.R. and Ligibel, T.J., 2018. Historic preservation: An introduction to its history,
principles, and practice. WW Norton & Company.
VanBlarcom, B.L. and Kayahan, C., 2011. Assessing the economic impact of a UNESCO World
Heritage designation. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 6(2), pp.143-164.
VanBlarcom, B.L. and Kayahan, C., 2011. Assessing the economic impact of a UNESCO World
Heritage designation. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 6(2), pp.143-164.