Historic City of Vigan, proposed by Philippines as a

best practice, is interesting as a case study for the

following aspects: cultural mapping project;
establishment of City Public Safety and Disaster
Risk Reduction Management Office; involvement of
all stakeholders including local communities; Save
Vigan Ancestral Homeowners Association; school
for traditional building crafts; intangible heritage and
cultural awareness; promotion of sustainable
development and use of local resources.
Summary provided by State Party

The World Heritage Capacity Building

Strategy, adopted by the World Heritage
Committee in 2011, responds to the
identified needs of a diverse and growing
audience for capacity building for World
Heritage conservation and management
activities. Development of resource
materials such as best practice case
studies and communication tools are
among the activities foreseen by the
strategy to improve these capacities.
An example of an innovative capacity building initiative is the recently concluded
Recognition of Best Practice in World Heritage Management. This initiative,
requested by the World Heritage Committee and carried out within the framework of
the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention in 2012, solicited applications
from World Heritage properties which had demonstrated new and creative ways of
managing their sites. Twenty-three submissions were received and evaluated by a
10-member international selection committee which included the representatives of
the Convention’s Advisory Bodies, ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN. The Historic
Town of Vigan in the Philippines was chosen as a best practice achieved with
relatively limited resources, a good integration of the local community in many
aspects of the sustainable conservation and management of the property and with
an interesting multi-faceted approach to the protection of the site.
Management practices recognized as being successful and sustainable can include
everything from involving local people in site management, to creating innovative
policies and regulating tourism. There are sites that include students from local
schools in the management of the site (Slovenia), train local inhabitants as tour
guides (Peru), or even put up nylon fences to protect villagers from straying tigers
from the Sundarbans National Park (India). Sharing these practices helps other sites
find solutions that work.
This initiative provides incentives for States Parties and site managers to reflect on
their management practices and explore improvement possibilities.
More examples will be added to the website.
For more informations about best practices examples, see issue 67 of the World
Heritage magazine.