A Holistic Approach to Conservation and Management at World Heritage Sites: The Contribution of Biocultural Practices and Traditional Knowledge to Sustainability

Historical separation of cultural and natural property values at World Heritage Sites (WHS) in determining a site’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) for evaluation and management purposes has often neglected intrinsic intangible elements such as traditional knowledge, biocultural practices and sustainable management systems that reflect human interaction at WHS. This project will review and analyze the integration of WHS values where biocultural practices and traditional management and knowledge structures exist and contribute to site sustainability and resilience. A study of selected WHS, including cultural landscapes and mixed WHS, where traditional management structures and biocultural practices have been developed and implemented over generations, will explore the extent to which these factors may have contributed to the sites’ sustainability. Various WHS will be identified and researched for comparative study and analysis based on the results of initial research completed, and a survey and interviews will be conducted. The number and location of these sites will be determined based on a variety of markers, such as the uses of biocultural practice at the site, the involvement of local stakeholders and communities, the importance of traditional knowledge structures in the management of the areas, and the extent of sustainable development currently incorporated into their frameworks and management practices. The Laponian WHS in Lapland, Sweden was selected as one of the case studies due to the existing integration of the traditional biocultural practices of reindeer herding of the Sami people which is reflected in the site’s management practices and extensive stakeholder involvement, and this project will examine how this has contributed to conservation practices and sustainability at the site. The results will contribute to a proposed framework for application to other WHS for more effective conservation and implementation of sustainable practices at WHS and in the broader worldwide heritage discourse