Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley is concerned 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.
The minister was speaking at a CARICOM, SIDS, UNESCO World Heritage Workshop at Amaryllis Beach Resort this morning.
