A List?
The World Heritage List includes 890 properties forming the cultural and natural heritage that the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. This list includes 689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed properties in 148 States Parties. Since April 2009, 186 States Parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention.
The General Conference of UNESCO held in Paris from October 17 to November 21, 1972, decided to create this list based on, in particular, the following considerations:
1. the cultural and natural heritage are increasingly threatened with destruction not only by traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and economic conditions which aggravate the phenomena of damage or destruction even more redoubtable,
2. degradation or loss of property of cultural and natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all peoples of the world
3. the protection of this heritage at the national level often remains incomplete because of the magnitude of resources which it requires and the lack of economic resources, science and technology of the country on whose territory the property to be protected.
The most famous sites that are found in this list are, for example, The Kremlin, Tombouctou, The Palace of Versaille, Abu Simbel, The Historic Centre of Istanbul, The Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, The Great Wall China, etc..
Or industrial sites such as The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, site Zollverein, Ironbridge, New Lanark, etc..
In 2008, the Walloon Region and Brussels Region have decided to update the Tentative List of World Heritage, based on the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee with priority given to groups with little or no representation. The proposals were: Cultural Landscape of the High Fens, Section Bavay Tongeren, Chaussée romaine Boulogne Cologne, thermal baths Spa, Palace of the Prince Bishops, The battlefield of Waterloo, Waterloo Panorama, Meuse fortresses, major mining sites Wallonia.
These propositions being agreed, the Director of the Heritage center came in October, 2008, to discover certain proposed testimonies. Further to its visit, the theme of the mining sites was imperative and the Minister of the Heritage asked the Walloon Region to educate a file this way. Following his visit, the theme of mining sites and has become the Minister of Heritage has commissioned the Walloon Region to investigate a case in this regard.
We supplemented this case by a cross-sectional analysis, highlighting the links between the four mining sites, and for each site, a buffer zone has been set. This area is a zone of protection that guarantees maintains around World Heritage sites of UNESCO, for consistency and urban landscape.
Our file has been introduced in January 2009 at the World Heritage Branch.
ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments Sites years) brought to the attention of four sites requests for additional information. We are particularly asked to detail the comparative analysis that highlights the criteria on the basis of which four sites deserve a rating.
The final decision will be made in July 2012 by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO.
