Last week I had to cancel all plans and spend three days in bed with a bad cold. As it turned out, there was a definite silver lining to this scenario.
Propped up in bed with my laptop, I spent hours reading about Laos, in anticipation of our trip there in four weeks. I found tons of blogs and websites and had a great old time. One of the places we are going in Laos is Luang Prabang, which is always mentioned in print as being a “World Heritage Site”.
Lots of places we have gone to or are planning to go to have this designation, so I was curious. What really does this mean?
Apparently, for the last 37 years, UNESCO has been designating some 878 sites around the world as “World Heritage Sites” – 679 cultural sites, 174 natural sites and 25 mixed properties. The World Heritage Convention, ratified by 183 countries, is there to assure the preservation of the “patrimony of mankind”. There’s a phrase that was thought up by committee if I’ve ever heard one. In any event, once a site is protected, the host country is supposed to abide by a number of conditions to make sure the site is conserved. The World Heritage Center is not a funder, the countries themselves fund all the maintenance and preservation, but the bonus to the countries is that these sites become in some cases major tourist attractions.
It’s not always smooth sailing of course. I was reading about how it is sometimes difficult to reconcile the requirements for preservation with the need and desire to modernize. This would be a particular problem in the case of Luang Prabang where the whole town is designated a World Heritage Site, but unlike a monument this is a living place where people work and live. There was a case where the monks in a temple wanted to build a new bathhouse and they made plans for a modern, concrete block-looking structure. The beleaguered guys at the UNESCO field office, with no resources other than the art of persuasion had to convince the monks to build something more in keeping with the wood architecture of the temple. Also the Laos governments don’t always have the resources or ability to impose building construction regulations in a timely manner and sometimes stuff just gets built without it.
This weekend we’re going away to visit one of the Philippines’ World Heritage Sites, the old Spanish town of Vigan up in northern Luzon.Here’s the list of Canadian World Heritage Sites on the UNESCO website. Most are news to me.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Historic District of Old Québec
L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site
Old Town Lunenburg
Rideau Canal
SGang Gwaay
Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
Dinosaur Provincial Park
Gros Morne National Park
Joggins Fossil Cliffs
Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek
Miguasha National Park
Nahanni National Park
Waterton Glacier International Peace Park
Wood Buffalo National Park
Road trips!
