THE GLOBAL Icomos network closely links not only with Unesco but also advises many national governments on cultural heritage issues.

Unesco is the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization, the Paris-based agency that, among many functions, takes charge of the World Heritage List, overseeing conservation and management of all inscribed “natural,” “cultural” and “cultural landscape” properties on the list whose number now comes close to the 1,000 mark.

Icomos is the official adviser to the World Heritage Committee on cultural heritage matters, reviewing and evaluating proposed sites before recommending their inscription to the World Heritage List.

To monitor the far-flung World Heritage properties, Unesco relies on the Icomos network, often requesting assistance from each national committee of Icomos to monitor properties in their countries.

When cultural issues arise in any World Heritage property, Icomos member-experts are part of the team sent by the World Heritage Committee to check and recommend solutions.

Unlike Unesco, Icomos needs reintroduction to the Philippine public despite its having been active in the country, albeit in a very low, quiet key, since the late 1980s, when its primary activity was to advise the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines on international and national cultural heritage matters.

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts recognizes Icomos as a one of two accredited Philippine heritage NGOs that merit a permanent representative at the NCCA Committee on Monuments and Sites.

What is Icomos?

Icomos is the acronym for International Council on Monuments and Sites, a Paris-based global organization of conservation professionals that regulates the conservation practice worldwide.

The Icomos Charter of Venice is internationally recognized as the standard to be followed for the conservation profession.

The organization has a network of approximately 20 International Scientific Committees whose membership focuses on a certain aspect of conservation.

As a sampler of the wide range of interests, some of these committees are: Vernacular Architecture; Cultural Tourism; Historic Towns and Cities; Underwater Archaeology; Fortifications and Military Heritage; 20th Century Heritage; Legal; Disaster Management; Cultural Landscapes.

Each of the International Scientific Committees undertakes and publish research in their areas.

More importantly, each committee prepares a charter defining its priorities and goals, and sets guidelines for members to work toward upholding the committee’s principles.

The international organization is composed of national committees in practically every country whose members are recognized leaders in the heritage sector. Its roster of members provides a global network of professionals ready to render service or to provide professional advice to colleagues.

As sole adviser to the Unesco World Heritage Committee on cultural-heritage matters, its members are instrumental in evaluating and recommending properties proposed for inscription to the World Heritage List, and once inscribed, members undertake foreign missions to monitor their state of their conservation and recommend measures to improve their status.

Icomos Philippine Committee is a small organization whose members have been vetted by peers to be bona-fide conservation specialists whose training and experience qualify them to undertake international and national assignments in various aspects of heritage conservation.

The roster of Icomos Philippine Committee members has been submitted to the Department of Tourism, Intramuros Administration, and other government and nongovernment organizations as professionals certified to undertake conservation work.

Icomos members in the Philippines have been networking with foreign or national colleagues, exchanging professional expertise, advising each other on projects, and offering its expertise on heritage concerns.

More information on Icomos can be found at www.international.icomos.org and www.icomosphilippines.com.

Now comes an announcement: Each year, Unesco and Icomos celebrate International Heritage Day. The theme for 2011 is “Heritage of Water.”

Pasig tour

In observance of International Heritage Day, Icomos Philippine Committee, the Heritage Conservation Society, and the City of Manila organized last week a sunset cruise on Pasig River.

A presentation on the “Heritage of Water” was by this columnist, who is president of the Icomos Philippine Committee; vice-president of its International Scientific Committee on Vernacular Architecture; and member of its International Advisory Committee in Paris.

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