Contribute rule of law wisdom to world heritage protection
my country has formed a relatively complete world heritage protection management monitoring system
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Intern Xie Yihong
On July 31, the 44th World Heritage Conference ended in Fuzhou, Fujian after completing various agendas. This is the second time that China has become the host country of the conference.
As an important participant in the world heritage system, China is not only reflected in the declaration and protection of numerous world heritage sites, but also in the gradual formation of a rule of law plan for world heritage protection and the establishment of an integrated and unique world heritage value cognition.
What legal wisdom has China contributed to the protection of world heritage?
How to build a long-term mechanism for world heritage protection?
Focusing on these issues, a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily recently interviewed Lu Zhou, director of the National Heritage Center of Tsinghua University.
At this World Heritage Conference, Lu Zhou was invited to participate in the "Urban Historical Landscape Protection and Sustainable Development" side event, and he was also the head of the team that compiled the application text for the "Beijing Central Axis".
The rule of law protects the treasures of the world
Continuously contribute to Chinese wisdom
Reporter: In 1972, UNESCO held its 17th session in Paris and passed the "Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage" and reached an international consensus on the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage.
China acceded to the convention in 1985.
How do you view the legal protection provided by China for the protection and development of world heritage?
Lu Zhou: World heritage has three basic pillars-one is to meet outstanding universal value; the other is to ensure the authenticity and integrity; the third is the protection status, and the construction of the rule of law is a very important part of the protection status.
Legislation of world heritage requires a combination of two aspects.
In terms of trends, more and more emphasis is placed on integrity, the combination of nature and culture, and the combination of material and non-material.
From the perspective of the construction of the rule of law, China clearly recognizes this trend of protection development, and integrates these contents in legislation to form a more integrated legal framework for protection. This is a kind of institutional innovation.
China has written the basic principles of ecological civilization construction and historical and cultural protection into the Constitution, promulgated more than 330 laws, regulations and normative documents from central to local levels, and established a relatively complete monitoring and research system for world heritage protection management.
At present, more than 11,800 nature reserves have been established, accounting for about 18% of the land area. The construction of national cultural parks such as the Great Wall and the Grand Canal and the Yellow River cultural heritage corridor are being promoted.
Reporter: Suzhou in 2004 and Fuzhou in 2021. China has become the venue of the World Heritage Convention twice.
In the past 17 years, how has China's world heritage protection undertakings changed?
Lu Zhou: In the past 17 years, China has not only been among the top in the world in terms of total heritage, but has also caught up in many aspects such as heritage concepts, global perspectives, heritage practices, protection methods and capabilities.
From Suzhou to Fuzhou, the dialogue and coordination capabilities of Chinese heritage experts have also improved significantly.
At this World Heritage Conference, the active participation of Chinese experts has made important contributions to the development of world heritage protection.
The conference discussed the "pre-procedure" for declaration.
The "pre-procedure" aims to help contracting states review the project before submitting a formal application to improve the level of declaration by the contracting party and increase the success rate of the declaration.
Chinese experts believe that we should support this agenda and contribute wisdom, because to a certain extent this can help most contracting states better articulate the value of heritage.
"Beijing Central Axis" Application
Synchronous advancement protection regulations
Reporter: At the side event of the “City Historic Landscape Protection and Sustainable Development” of this World Heritage Conference, the research results of the protection management and application for the “Beijing Central Axis” have become a hot spot of concern.
What experience does the overall protection of Beijing’s old city provide for the protection of historical urban landscapes in the world?
Lu Zhou: Taking the “Beijing Central Axis” as a guide, the protection practice of Beijing’s old city is highly compatible with the concept and method of urban historical landscape protection advocated by UNESCO, and will also promote Beijing’s further protection of urban historical landscape explore.
In 2011, UNESCO passed the "Recommendation on Urban Historical Landscapes", which pointed out the direction for further protection of historical cities.
It proposes to look at all aspects of the city as a whole, instead of only protecting historical buildings in isolation, but also to consider a wider range of environmental elements, including community elements, human participation, and sustainable development.
China is very advanced in this regard.
As early as 2006, China promulgated many related laws and regulations, including the World Heritage Protection and Management Measures, the Declaration Measures, and the Inspection Measures. The Great Wall and the Grand Canal all have their own protection and management regulations.
Generally speaking, from the perspective of cultural heritage, China is a country in the forefront of the rule of law in the world.
Quanzhou, which was recently included in the World Heritage Protection List, also passed the Quanzhou Heritage Protection Regulations a few years ago.
We are now applying for the "Beijing Central Axis", and at the same time we are doing relevant protection regulations.
How can the overall protection of Beijing's old city be formed?
We have noticed that the central axis is a very important "backbone" that can string together many historical blocks to form an overall understanding of the old city.
In the protection process, we also took special consideration of the surrounding mountains, water systems, and their relationship with the old city of Beijing.
The current Beijing old city protection practice guided by the “Beijing Central Axis” application for heritage is highly compatible with the urban historical landscape protection concepts and methods advocated by UNESCO, and provides a reference for the protection of historical urban landscapes in the world. ".
Many challenges cannot be ignored
Long-term mechanism urgently needs to be improved
Reporter: The complex situation facing the World Heritage Protection is an important topic of common concern for the participants of this World Heritage Conference.
What do you think are the main challenges facing the protection of world heritage sites?
Lu Zhou: What we are currently facing is the contradiction between the protection and development of world heritage in cities, as well as the new threats brought by climate change to the protection of world heritage.
The "Fuzhou Declaration" adopted by this World Heritage Conference talked about many new challenges to be dealt with in the future.
For example, climate change will affect the protection of World Heritage Sites-Tibet was originally very arid, but now the rainfall has increased, and the heritage form adapted to arid regions will now face new problems; rising sea levels will lead to migratory birds inhabiting Yancheng tidal flats Land will be affected; many wood-structured buildings will also face new termite problems; the recent extreme weather in Zhengzhou, Henan and other places will also have an impact on heritage protection.
At the same time, the development of tourism is also a challenge.
Many heritage sites now express that they must strictly control the number of tourists.
The World Heritage itself cannot be copied, and once it is damaged, it cannot be remedied.
Therefore, we must emphasize high-quality development, improve the level of cultural heritage value dissemination, and let more people understand the value of heritage.
The Fuzhou Declaration adopted by this World Heritage Conference proposes to promote heritage education.
This does not mean to train professionals, but to talk about the significance of world heritage and the outstanding universal value of heritage among the people.
Currently, education in this area is basically blank. How to infiltrate world heritage education into elementary schools so that students can understand the heritage value of their place from an early age is very important.
Reporter: In your opinion, how to establish and improve a long-term mechanism by legal means?
Lu Zhou: China has incorporated world heritage protection into its national strategy and has built a relatively complete world heritage protection, management and monitoring system.
In terms of the implementation of responsibilities, China has corresponding cultural relics protection units and its own responsibility management agencies, so that responsibilities can be implemented in detail; in terms of transactions, there are also corresponding laws and regulations. Although there are more cultural relics in circulation, they are not It will cause big problems; in terms of combating and preventing cultural relic crimes, due to the weakening of penalties, the deterrence of criminals will also be relatively weakened, and there may be potential risks.
In the future, the main energy should be focused on strengthening the research on the core clauses of human, financial and material protection, institutional innovation, and sound mechanism for the protection and utilization of cultural and natural heritage. There will be fewer principles, macro, and outline clauses, and more substantive clauses. The provisions of sex, specificity, and operability make the provisions of the regulations clear, specific, and effective, and break the rules and regulations of management.