The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks
to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and
natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to
humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention
concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted
by UNESCO in 1972.
The
Convention sets out the duties of States Parties in identifying potential sites
and their role in protecting and preserving them. By signing the Convention,
each country pledges to conserve not only the World Heritage sites situated on
its territory, but also to protect its national heritage. The States Parties
are encouraged to integrate the protection of the cultural and natural heritage
into regional planning programmes, set up staff and services at their sites,
undertake scientific and technical conservation research and adopt measures
which give this heritage a function in the day-to-day life of the community.
The
prestige that comes from being a State Party to the Convention and having sites
inscribed on the World Heritage List often serves as a catalyst to raising
awareness for heritage preservation.
In
the case of sites included on the List of World Heritage in Danger , the
attention and the funds of both the national and the international community
are focused on the conservation needs of these particularly threatened sites.
Today,
the World Heritage concept is so well understood that sites on the List are a
magnet for international cooperation and may thus receive financial assistance
for heritage conservation projects from a variety of sources.
Sites
inscribed on the World Heritage List also benefit from the elaboration and
implementation of a comprehensive management plan that sets out adequate
preservation measures and monitoring mechanisms. In support of these, experts
offer technical training to the local site management team.
Finally,
the inscription of a site on the World Heritage List brings an increase in
public awareness of the site and of its outstanding values, thus also
increasing the tourist activities at the site. When these are well planned for
and organized respecting sustainable tourism principles, they can bring
important funds to the site and to the local economy.
Malaysia’s
World Heritage sites
1.
Kinabalu Park
Date
of Inscription : 2000
Brief
Description :
Kinabalu
Park, in the State of Sabah on the northern end of the island of Borneo, is
dominated by Mount Kinabalu (4,095 m), the highest mountain between the
Himalayas and New Guinea. It has a very wide range of habitats, from rich
tropical lowland and hill rainforest to tropical mountain forest, sub-alpine
forest and scrub on the higher elevations. It has been designated as a Centre
of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia and is exceptionally rich in species with
examples of flora from the Himalayas, China, Australia, Malaysia, as well as
pan-tropical flora.
2.
Gunung Mulu National Park
Date
of Inscription : 2000
Brief
Description :
Important
both for its high biodiversity and for its karst features, Gunung Mulu National
Park, on the island of Borneo in the State of Sarawak, is the most studied
tropical karst area in the world. The 52,864-ha park contains seventeen
vegetation zones, exhibiting some 3,500 species of vascular plants. Its palm
species are exceptionally rich, with 109 species in twenty genera noted. The
park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 m-high sandstone pinnacle. At least
295 km of explored caves provide a spectacular sight and are home to millions
of cave swiftlets and bats. The Sarawak Chamber, 600 m by 415 m and 80 m high,
is the largest known cave chamber in the world.
3.
Melaka and Georgetown, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca
Date
of Inscription : 2008
Brief
Description :
Melaka
and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca have developed over
500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West in the
Straits of Malacca. The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns
with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible.
With its government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka
demonstrates the early stages of this history originating in the 15th-century
Malay sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch periods beginning in the early
16th century. Featuring residential and commercial buildings, George Town
represents the British era from the end of the 18th century. The two towns
constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel
anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.
4.
Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong
Valley
Date
of Inscription : 2012
Brief
Description :
Situated
in the lush Lenggong Valley, the property includes four archaeological sites in
two clusters which span close to 2 million years, one of the longest records of
early man in a single locality, and the oldest outside the African continent.
It features open-air and cave sites with Palaeolithic tool workshops, evidence
of early technology. The number of sites found in the relatively contained area
suggests the presence of a fairly large, semi-sedentary population with
cultural remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal ages.
Source
: http://whc.unesco.org/en/
