BARBADOS will know by June if its application for two areas to be designated World Heritage sites has been accepted.
Speaking to the DAILY NATION during a break of the CARICOM, SIDS, UNESCO World Heritage Workshop at Amaryllis Beach Resort yesterday, Sheron Johnson, senior cultural policy officer for the Division of Culture and Sports, said the management plan surrounding the application for Bridgetown and the Garrison Historic Area was submitted on February 28.
“We’re awaiting word from UNESCO as to if Barbados received the nomination,” Johnson said. “A decision will be made sometime in late June, possibly [at a meeting] to be held in Paris . . . .’
“By March 31, if they had any queries, they would have sent those queries to us, and we would have had to respond. So the fact that we haven’t had any queries, that gives us some amount of hope. But initially the dossier was well received, so we’re just waiting to hear what’s going to happen in June.”
This should be a small step in addressing the concern raised by Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley during his address about the dearth of CARICOM properties on the World Heritage List. He said a “mere” six of the 911 properties listed were in CARICOM.
Stating that CARICOM, and the Caribbean region, were “woefully” under-represented, Lashley noted that of the 22 countries on the World Heritage Committee, Barbados was the only state party from the region.
“We have to be honest and admit that we, as a region, have to accept some measure of responsibility for this state of affairs. UNESCO is not only to share the responsibility. Over the years we ourselves have failed to recognise the true value of our heritage.
“It is now time, however, for us to accept responsibility for, and take pride in, our rich, unique and diverse heritage. It is now up to us to put programmes in place to involve our people and our communities in the entire process, sensitising them to the need to accept and share this responsibility.”
Lashley said the first step towards that goal at the workshop was to lay the foundation for the identification of a Regional World Heritage Strategy.
“We will move towards the development of a Regional World Heritage Agenda, and the establishment of a CARICOM World Heritage Mechanism. We will look at the operations of the World Heritage Centre, and at CARICOM representation on the World Heritage Committee. We will also explore the establishment of a Caribbean World Heritage Fund,” Lashley said.
