There are innumerable natural and man-made wonders across the world that inspire awe and spark a desire to preserve them for future generations. Perhaps one of our most important achievements as humans has been our ability to come together as a global community to define the concrete ways in which these sites are meaningful to us, and to find ways to try to value and protect them. This is the first in a series of short presentations on the UNESCO World Heritage sites that are part of our cultural roots in Latin America and the Caribbean – we present an overview here, which will be followed up in future issues by a more specific look at different types of heritage sites in the region.

What is considered World Heritage, and how did this idea arise?

UNESCO broadly defines heritage as “our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations.”i The overall concept of World Heritage is unique because it is considered to belong to all of humanity, transcending the national boundaries within which it may be located or in which it originated; it can also be considered tangible – physical structures or sites, grounded in a fixed location – or intangible – manifestations of our cultural traditions and beliefs that take forms such as music, dance and rituals.   

Tangible World Heritage

The idea of defining and protecting tangible heritage arose as a result of the melding of two movements in the late 1950s and 1960s: one concerned with the archaeological preservation of cultural sites, and the other with the preservation of natural habitats, both increasingly under threat by population growth and accelerated modernization and industrialization. 

In 1972, UNESCO adopted the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, an international treaty that “seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.” ii Notably, the Convention includes both natural and man-made sites, highlighting that these are often intertwined and must be kept in balance. 

Today, the States that are Parties to the 1972 UNESCO Convention pledge to identify potential sites and protect those that are finally inscribed in the World Heritage List. A UNESCO World Heritage Fund also provides grants for specific projects related to the sites that countries can apply for.

Intangible World Heritage

In more recent decades, there was greater recognition of the importance of intangible cultural heritage – a more complex notion not explicitly included in the 1972 Convention. There were growing concerns about globalization, a two-edged sword that can “renew dialogue among communities” but can also be coupled with intolerance to give rise to “grave threats of deterioration, disappearance and destruction of the intangible cultural heritage.” iii 

Thus, the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was ratified in 2003. It defines Intangible Cultural Heritage as “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.” The Convention recognizes that this heritage is passed on from one generation to the next, and is therefore always being modified, according to communities’ interactions with their natural environment and social context, but nonetheless provides a group of people with “a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.” iv 

States party to the 2003 Convention agree to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, ensure respect for the communities that practice it, and raise awareness of it at the national and international levels, among other responsibilities.

What are the criteria for inclusion on the World Heritage Lists, and what are the different categories of World Heritage?

Tangible World Heritage

To be included on the World Heritage List, a site must be considered of “outstanding universal value,” meeting at least one out of ten criteria in the Operational Guidelines of the 1972 UNESCO Convention. These criteria apply to both cultural and natural sites, and include such parameters as “bearing a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization” (criterion iii) or containing “superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance” (criterion vii). The full list of criteria can be found at https://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/. Even when a property meets these criteria, it must also be properly managed, have integrity, and be considered authentic in order to be inscribed in the list and remain on it. 

All the sites included in the list are classified as Natural, Cultural, or Mixed properties. This last category, also known as “cultural landscapes,” was defined in 1992, and refers to “significant interactions between people and the natural environment.”v Sites belonging to any of these basic three categories can be considered “Transboundary,” meaning that they cross the borders of two or more nations. There is also a List of World Heritage in Danger, which includes those sites that are facing direct and severe threats to their existence through conflicts and wars, erosion of government control, natural disasters, climate change and other circumstances. Currently, there are 56 properties on this list, which are eligible for emergency assistance from the World Heritage Fund and which are brought to the urgent attention of the international community.vi

Intangible World Heritage

Practices can be included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity if they meet five key criteria, which include meeting the definition of the Convention, whether the element has “been nominated following the widest possible participation of the community,” and whether inscription will heighten awareness of its significance, reflect cultural diversity and “testify to human creativity.” There are two other lists related to Intangible Cultural Heritage: the Urgent Safeguarding List, which includes elements whose viability is at risk despite efforts from the local community or government, or which are facing “grave threats” to their survival due to emergency circumstances; and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, which recognizes programs that have been especially effective at protecting intangible heritage and can serve as models. The full list of criteria for all these lists can be found at https://ich.unesco.org/en/procedure-of-inscription-00809 

The 2003 Convention defines five broad “domains” through which intangible cultural heritage is manifested: “(a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; (b) performing arts; (c) social practices, rituals and festive events; (d) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and (e) traditional craftsmanship.” However, it is recognized that cultural practices and expressions are fluid and can cover several domains. vi

How many World Heritage sites are there in Latin America and the Caribbean, what categories do they belong to, and where are they located?

In this region, there are 150 properties on the World Heritage List, representing 12% of 1,199 global World Heritage properties. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 104 properties are Cultural sites, 38 are Natural, and 8 are Mixed. There are also 6 properties in this region on the List of World Heritage in Danger. 

There are 90 elements from Latin America and the Caribbean inscribed in the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, across 22 countries. This represents 13% of all 676 elements inscribed in the lists across the world. 

The chart below summarises the number of tangible and intangible heritage elements and sites in each country belonging to the region, by category of heritage. Countries with more than 20 heritage elements are Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Colombia.

References and Resources

i  UNESCO World Heritage Convention, “About World Heritage’, at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/about/

ii Ibid 

iii UNESCO, "The World Heritage Convention", at https://ich.unesco.org/convention

iv Ibid. 

v UNESCO, World Heritage Convention, "Criteria for Inclusion in the World Heritage List", at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria 

vi UNESCO, World Heritage Convention, "List of World Heritage in Danger", at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/danger

vii UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, "Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage", at: https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention