Gov’t officials join UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting

Officials from the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture as well as the president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Deland Leong, have participated in the annual meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, India, the Office of the Secretary, Elsie Ao Ieong, stated.

The World Heritage Committee’s annual meeting aims to assess the protection status of several World Heritage sites, as well as discuss the safeguarding of endangered sites and receive nominations of new items for World Heritage status, among other related topics.

This year’s meeting featured three new national nominations. The first was for cultural heritage, “The Central Axis of Beijing: A complex of buildings showcasing the ideal order of the Chinese capital,” and two others were for natural heritage, being “Badain Jaran Desert—Towers of Sand and Lakes” and “Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Yellow Sea Coast – Bohai Gulf (Phase 2).”

According to the note, all the national nominations have received approval to be listed as World Heritage sites.

There was no mention of discussion on Macau’s heritage sites in the Office of the Secretary’s statement. However, several organizations and groups have been contesting certain government decisions that they claim to be endangering the protection status of the Guia Lighthouse and Fortress.