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The 12th International Conference of National Trusts
New Delhi, INDIA December 3-5, 2007
www.intachicnt.org

Conference Recommendations
The 12th International Conference of National Trusts, hosted by INTACH in New Delhi from 3rd to 5th December 2007, was based on the theme of "Heritage and Development."Over 300 participants from 49 countries represented National Trusts and similar organisations from almost every part of the world.

The complementary relationship of heritage conservation and economic development is now generally accepted. In healthy societies, cultural heritage provides a base for economic progress and a source of both meaning and identity. As the forces of globalisation rapidly increase, the development of mechanisms for protection of heritage becomes increasingly urgent, especially in developing nations that are strongly affected by the impact of globalisation.

National Trusts (and similar heritage organisations), as membership organisations, are the voice of civil society. The Delhi conference thus included delegates from a broad range of countries and regions, many of whom were participating for the first time. The goal was to provide an international forum for discussion, debate, and exchange of ideas and experiences, as well as an opportunity for development of networks and partnerships.

An extremely significant result of the Conference was the launch of INTO, the International National Trusts Organisation. The INTO Charter was signed by members of the Steering Committee, who had brought the Charter into being, as well as 35 other signatories who were present at the Conference.

The Delhi conference was inaugurated on 3rd December 2007 by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, and Smt. Ambika Soni, Minister of Tourism and Culture of the Government of India. INTO was formally launched later on the same day by Professor Hamid Ansari, the Vice President of India. The Conference was closed on 5th December 2007 by Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, and Dr. Karan Singh, Chairman of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Conference Structure

The central theme of "Heritage and Development," was divided into 9 sub-themes for detailed discussions:

1. Heritage and Globalisation
2. Conservation of Heritage in Regions of Conflict and Natural Disasters
3. Heritage Tourism and Conservation
4. Funding for Conservation Projects
5. Regional Cooperation and Role of National Trusts
6. Heritage and Conservation Management and Urban Renewal
7. Legislation
8. Heritage Education
9. Intangible Heritage

The call for papers elicited overwhelming response and over 140 abstracts were received; these were compiled in a publication and distributed to the delegates during the first Plenary session. The full - length papers are being collated for publication and will be published and made available for wider dissemination along with the recommendations of the Conference.

The 9 sub - themes were grouped in six panels. Each panel ran concurrently for five and half hours over two days and altogether the six accommodated over 90 speakers. The recommendations based on the proceedings of each session were discussed at the second and third Plenary sessions on December 5, 2007, and thereafter presented at the Valedictory Session. The following is the final compilation of the Conference recommendations.

1. Heritage and Globalisation

The Conference identified both the threats and opportunities that globalisation presents, and emphasised the need for policy makers to understand the phenomenon of globalisation as a complex and nuanced force, not one that can be treated simplistically. The globalisation experience of each society is unique, and requires individualised response.

The Conference highlighted the importance of sensitising both sides of the globalisation / development process, the initiator and receptor, to the imperatives of conservation.

The Conference recommends:

• The essential concept should be to think globally, but act locally.
• National Trusts and INTO should consider the problems of intercultural dialogue and its mitigation as an important agenda of its activities and programmes.
• Urban planners and policy makers must avoid the gentrification of local heritage precincts and the promotion of elitism in society while conserving heritage areas. The development of heritage theme parks should also be discouraged because it represents an inauthentic experience.
• The changes brought about by economic and social development must be sensitive to, and focus on, protecting the organic linkages between heritage and its significance to local societies.
• The principles and practices of conserving cultural landscapes and the imperatives of regional development require that heritage be viewed holistically and therefore offers effective strategies to connect the old and the new in the process of development.
• There is need to encourage local wisdom, skills and living traditions in local conservation projects. Research and development of local vernacular knowledge systems must be encouraged. In this regard, INTACH’s Charter for the Conservation of Unprotected Architectural Heritage and Site, 2004, is a useful guide.
• Public-Private Partnerships are effective means to leverage scarce resources for conservation projects. Incentives should be offered to such initiatives to conserve heritage and respect its significance to local societies.

2. Conservation of Heritage in Regions of Conflict and Natural Disasters

Conservation of architectural or urban heritage frequently involves heritage shared by several communities and cultures. Dealing with it is a complex and difficult task under any circumstance, but under conditions of social and political conflict and in the aftermath of environmental disasters, it requires far greater understanding and sensitivity.

The Conference recognized the problems of conserving heritage in regions of conflict and natural disasters as an important contemporary issue. It should be considered a specific genre in the conservation field, which must receive the due attention of researchers, policy makers, National Trusts and INTO. This sub theme provided a platform for discussing how various cultural sites have dealt with this problem and offered new strategies for dealing with age - old conservation problems.

The Conference recommends:

• To recognize the right to enjoy one’s cultural heritage as a basic human right.
• Conservation of cultural heritage should be a part of all humanitarian action undertaken in response to conflicts or natural disasters.
• Gratuitous destruction of local cultural heritage in armed conflict should be considered a crime against humanity. INTO should network with world organisations, such as UN institutions and other relevant international, regional and sub-regional organisations to generate world opinion against illegal / unauthorized movement / trade of heritage objects. It should promote awareness among governments, decision makers and public of the principles of The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflicts.
• Post - war reconstruction and reconciliation programmes should priorities sustainable cultural conservation and promote education (including history education) among the afflicted society.
• National Trusts, INTO and governments should prepare a comprehensive disaster preparedness map in areas of potential conflicts and / or natural disasters, which should include the inventory of heritage properties and sites and their detailed documentation.
• INTO should compile a list of international and local experts and volunteers who would be available for undertaking emergency and long term rehabilitation programmes following the cessation of conflicts and natural disasters.
• Experts should be engaged to prepare manuals / tool kits for assessing damage, planning and implementing actual restoration or reconstruction work in areas where heritage has been damaged by conflicts or natural disasters. The guidelines should ensure due involvement of local communities in restoration and reconstruction efforts including the use of indigenous expertise, skills and know how.
• National Trusts and INTO should liaise with the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) to identify the impact of climate change on different cultural regions. Conservation must be promoted as the most effective strategy to reduce the future carbon footprint of habitations.

3. Heritage Tourism and Conservation

Promotion of tourism in general, but heritage related tourism in particular, is seen as a ‘soft’ development option. It is enthusiastically adopted by many developing countries with resource constraints. But heritage related tourism carries in its wake problems for host societies which are being increasingly foregrounded by critics.

The Conference advocated a shift in focus in tourism promotion policies from achieving gains to the national exchequer to the objectives of equitable tourism. Equitable tourism evaluates the costs to host communities and environment while catering to the needs of the visitor and promotes sustainable development practices.

The sub theme examined the effects of tourism development on the heritage of the region and identified the conditions leading to good and bad practices.

The Conference recommends:

• It is essential that holistic Management Plans should be prepared for all heritage sites, but for World Heritage Sites they should be made mandatory. The Management Plans must spell out the needs for the development of conservation and tourism infrastructure as well as local capacity building.
• Tourism Management Plans must identify sustainable tourism strategies. Tourism planning at the national or regional level must dovetail with sustainable development strategies. Over dependence on tourism income must be avoided by diversifying the local economy.
• The objective of tourism development should not only be to increase national revenue but also bring substantial resource gains directly to the host community.
• National Trusts and INTO should promote the policy documents of UNWTO and ICOMOS which establish global code of ethics in tourism.
• National Trusts and INTO should periodically bring together all stakeholders, including professionals in the field of tourism management and local communities and promote best practices.
• Tourism development strategies should look beyond the promotion of individual monuments and draw attention to the diverse characteristics of the heritage site, its surroundings and environment.
• Marketing of heritage tourism must be sensitive to local priorities and needs. It must also be sensitive to the intangible values that sustain the heritage and its significance to create a feeling of ownership of the heritage among the local community.
• Tourism strategy must take care of the five C’s: Civic governance, Carrying capacity, Capacity building, Communication strategy and Convergence.
• User fees should be introduced and linked to support the maintenance and conservation of monuments.
• The importance of conserving the natural heritage must be strengthened in development policies and schemes and its symbiotic relation with the built heritage highlighted in conservation projects.
• Policy makers must pay adequate attention to the needs of a diverse range of foreign and local tourists, including that of religious / pilgrimage tourism, in the development of tourism strategies

4. Funding for Conservation Projects

The competition for funds in a developing economy often relegates the needs of conservation to a low priority. The challenge facing National Trusts and INTO is therefore to develop innovative strategies to attract funds for conservation. They must focus as much on raising funds as on spending it optimally.

Conservation must therefore align with the priority accorded to development projects, by dovetailing its strategies with development schemes. Infrastructure projects, for example, could be designed in a manner such that they do not destroy heritage.

The Panel highlighted the need to reorient development objectives and practices so that they become conservation sensitive and thereby effectively rationalize the allocation of scarce resources.

The Conference recommends:

• The Lottery Fund of the United Kingdom is a replicable model for creating funds for conservation projects, which could be examined by other countries.
• The model of Public Private Partnerships can be effective for undertaking specific conservation projects.
• The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility can be leveraged to finance conservation projects.
• Heritage projects can be marketed to generate funds for conservation.
• National Trusts and INTO must conduct studies to formulate innovative funding strategies and disseminate the information so that it could be shared and replicated. Such studies must examine the potentials to reform local tax regimes and financial policies, including concepts like creating a cess for heritage conservation, to benefit the funding of heritage conservation.

5. Regional Co - operation and Role of National Trusts

One of the primary objectives of holding the biennial conferences of National Trusts is to promote networking among heritage organisations and encourage regional co - operation. INTO was created to institutionalize this process. This sub theme focused on evolving culturally appropriate principles of conservation, promoting exchange programmes for greater dialogues, and developing education programmes to promote values of conservation amongst civil society and role of National Trusts in achieving those objectives.

The Conference recommends:

• National Trusts and INTO must focus on promoting conservation among civil society by training social motivators and supporting national conservation initiatives.
• Internet and blogs are effective media to promote regional cooperation.
• National Trusts and INTO must facilitate the exchange of best practices.
• National Trusts must aim at making heritage conservation a grassroots movement with an active body of members involved in its programmes.
• National Trusts must produce a National Register of heritage properties. They should lead the conservation movement through such initiatives.
• INTO should create a corpus fund to support local initiatives particularly in times of disaster.
• Regional cooperation can be facilitated by lobbying national governments, conducting conferences and workshops, and initiating research in the discipline of conservation in educational institutions. The objective should be to not only upgrade the local knowledge and skills base, but to anticipate future needs of conservation.
• Branding of INTO as a premier agency involved in promoting heritage conservation can confer it with a vital asset necessary for it to carry out its mandate. It must aim at becoming equivalent in its operations to existing international agencies in the field of heritage conservation.
• Climate change is an important problem facing humankind, and the issues associated with it must be adopted as critical agendas in the activities of National Trusts and INTO. The public must be made aware about the consequence of climate change and strategies for its mitigation. Conservation projects must promote the values of green architecture and urbanism.
• INTO should address the issue of formulating appropriate codes of conservation practice and use of traditional materials and techniques. This objective can be promoted by making a special effort to invite representatives from Africa, South and Southeast Asia and other developing regions

6. Heritage and Conservation Management and Urban Renewal

The close association between the imperative of urban renewal and management of heritage conservation has been experienced all over the world. Urban renewal is a necessary process to mediate the forces of change, but its consequences could either work for, or against, the objectives of heritage conservation. Thus it is essential that Conservation Management Plans be prepared for all historic precincts which come under urban renewal schemes.

The Conference recommends:

• The impact of urbanisation on heritage must be evaluated while making urban development projects. Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) Studies must be made mandatory for all urban renewal projects. There must be an institutional arrangement to monitor HIA studies.
• For making heritage conservation plans all heritages must be listed and protected by city regulations.
• Urban design studies must be undertaken to determine the viability of proposals of Urban Renewal.
• Urban Renewal must adopt business management principles for heritage conservation with well demarcated goals.
• Attention must be directed towards mitigating the consequences of co modification of land which is resulting in the loss of historical buildings and settlement fabric.
• Legal protection and financial incentives should be formulated for the protection of heritage as part of urban renewal.
• Urban renewal must not aim at ‘Disneyfication’ of heritage or creating fake historic imagery.
• Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings must be an important component in the formulation of urban renewal strategies.
• Urban renewal must be viewed as a great opportunity to focus on the conservation of both the physical fabric of the city and its social fabric. In this manner the objective should be to achieve integrated urban renewal. INTO should facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices from around the world.

7. Legislation

Legislation is a precondition to securing the ends of conservation. Conservation legislation must be dovetailed with the laws of town planning and those that protect archaeological heritage. While legislation is country-specific, this sub theme examined the lessons from many countries.

The sub theme emphasized the need for formulating legislation which would facilitate a people - centric, bottom-up process for undertaking conservation.

The Conference recommends:

• National Trusts must lobby for legislation at local, regional and national level for the protection of heritage to ensure that there are no gaps or loopholes.
• The legislation of heritage must embrace buildings, cultural landscapes and natural features. These must be listed in accordance to the formulated procedures and the processes for its protection should be duly defined.
• INTO should facilitate the education of experts on legislation and make available model legislations on a web site for use by agencies in different countries.
• Legislation alone is not enough. National Trusts and INTO must lobby with statutory authorities on the need to enforce and implement the laws. They must also initiate awareness programes to familiarize civil society on the importance and meaning of legislation for protecting heritage.

8. Heritage Education

The long term vision to promote conservation in society is to focus on education at all levels. An aware citizenry together with technical expertise is required to create an appropriate culture for conservation to flourish. The Panel identified a strong role for National Trusts and INTO to promote this culture, both at the local and international level.

The Conference recommends:

• There is need to develop innovative and inclusive educational projects and programmes, including hands-on approach to maintaining monuments, to capture the attention of children as well as local communities.
• Sensitive and appropriate "use" of monuments for various events, social activities and other community functions can imbue a sense of ownership and thus ensure sustainable conservation. However, it must be ensured that the events are appropriate to the cultural context of the heritage site.
• The role of crafts people must also be included in the formulation of education programmes, which should aim at upgrading their skills and making them familiar with the developments on new materials and technology.
• Training programmes should be formulated for “unemployable” youth through vocational training and mentoring schemes with master crafts people.
• Specialist educational courses on retrofitting buildings and disaster mitigation measures must be formulated.
• There must be a special focus on the conservation of oral traditions and indigenous knowledge systems. This is an important area for National Trusts and INTO to address.
• National Trusts and INTO must develop a website for exchange of ideas on heritage education.
• The expertise in innovative techniques of training conservators developed by National Trusts could be shared through the initiatives of INTO.

9. Intangible Heritage

In ‘living’ cultures, it is the intangible aspects of culture which confer the physical heritage with meaning and significance. This relationship needs to be fore grounded in conservation policy and practice. This sub theme discussed this critical aspect of heritage conservation and how it could be utilised as a cultural, social and economic asset.

The Conference recommends:

• National Trusts and INTO must develop norms/methods to determine the value of forms of intangible heritage and how to preserve them, particularly when the younger generation is no longer interested in them.
• Oral traditions, folklores, music and other forms of indigenous knowledge systems must be accorded the status of tangible historic records. This intangible heritage must be documented assiduously before it vanishes as a consequence of development. INTO must initiate dialogue between the various regions of the world where such traditions survive.
• It is necessary to recognize that when tangible heritage is destroyed because of conflict, its memory can continue as intangible heritage, whose value resides in preserving the site.

The recommendations arising from the deliberations of the Conference were presented to the delegates and discussed during two Plenary sessions on December 5, 2007.

This version of recommendations has received the endorsement of the Transitional Steering Committee of INTO.

New Delhi, December 5, 2007

View:

12th ICNT Newsletter October 2006 (Download pdf )
12th ICNT Newsletter December 2006 (Download pdf )
12th  ICNT Application Form (Download pdf )
12th ICNT Newsletter February 2007 (Download pdf )
12th ICNT Newsletter June 2007 (Download pdf )

Contact

Address:     INTACH, 71 Lodi Estate, New Delhi - 110003
Phone :      91-11-24631818, 24632269, 24632267, 24641304, 24645482, 24692774
Email:        12thintoconference.intach@gmail.com