Page 16 - AHATA

A16 LOCAL
Thursday 18 april 2019

When the World’s

Riches Dissolve

“Join the Fight Against
Tangible Heritage

Depreciation”

Maastricht – With great sadness this week on April 15th 2019, the entire world was this, many donations have been made since the incident
devastated when millions of people saw the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris go into and it looks like the Notre Dame will receive the atten-
flames on livestream news. Feeling immensely hopeless, the Parisian community tion it needs and deserves. But, let’s bring this discussion
united and showed a tremendous amount of compassion and loyalty to one of the home and to our region. The Latin America and the Ca-
oldest architectural structures registered in the World Heritage Registry dating from ribbean (LAC) Region possesses a rich cultural and natu-
1160. ral heritage. The 33 countries have ratified the conven-
tion concerning the protection of the World Cultural and
Natural Heritage (SDG 11.4). The Region counts with 140
It took a century to build this glorious mon- According to Ms. Audrey Azoulay, UNES- properties inscribed on the World Heritage List as follows:
ument, it remained for a couple more CO’s Director General, UNESCO would 97 cultural properties, 38 natural properties and 5 mixed
centuries as a landmark in Paris, but it only accompany and support the authorities properties.
took approximately two hours to be cov- in the recovery, rehabilitation and rebuild-
ered in flames. This creates a relevant dis- ing of the damaged heritage site based World Heritage in the Caribbean Region
cussion on tangible cultural heritage pres- on accurate documentation based on ar- On 28 November 2014, in Havana, Cuba, the Caribbean
ervation and how we in Aruba value our chival material, photos, films, historic doc- States Parties to the 1972
monuments. umentation, plans and drawings. Besides Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cul-
tural and Natural Heritage adopted the Caribbean Ac-
tion Plan for World Heritage 2015–2019. The elaboration
of the Action Plan was underpinned by the identification
of challenges considered as sub-regional priorities for the
State Parties on which to work in the Caribbean over the
next five years, which included the following 7 action
plans:
1. Conservation and Management
2. Nominations and Tentative Lists
3. Effects of Climate Change and Risk Management
4. Community Participation
5. Sustainable Tourism
6. Capacity Building
7. Networks and Partnerships

“Conservation and Management” is the first step in the
latest Action Plan in preserving monuments and related
heritage sites in the Caribbean. According to UNESCO,
specific policies and laws related to heritage must be
reviewed regularly and must incorporate a “local” ap-
proach. It also must strengthen coordination and com-
munication between different levels of government and
stakeholder agencies and individuals and ensure funding
sources, either through specific budget lines or other ex-
ternal input. Considering these aspects, Aruba has been
making numerous attempts with the help of different gov-
ernment and non-government organizations to preserve
as much tangible heritage as possible.

However, Aruba has yet to implement concrete regu-
lations and laws to protect historical buildings from dis-
appearing. We know that recently the government has
announced that the Uncle Louis Store in San Nicolas will
be preserved and renovated. After this complete reno-
vation, the Department of Nature and Environment of
Aruba will be occupying the building. This building was
constructed in the 50s and was designed by Jan Nagel,
becoming later a local store that sold cloth and later the
Aruban customs office. Even though this is a remarkable
project, many other historical buildings in Aruba remain
unprotected by the community and by Aruban law.

Continued on Page 17