Advocate Bience Gawanas, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs
Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi,
Deputy Minister Ntombazana Botha,
Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Mr. Tidjani Serpos, UNESCO Assistant Director General for Africa
Mrs. Ina Marčiulionytė, Chairperson of the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee
Mr. Munier Bouchnaki, Director General of ICCROM
Representatives of IUCN and ICOMOS
Representatives of Development Finance Institutions
Representatives from the Private Sector
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

The 29th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held here in South Africa in Durban last year was indeed a landmark occasion. Not only was this the first time that the World Heritage Committee was having its meeting in Sub-Saharan Africa, it also represented the return home, to the Cradle of Humankind, by the international body which celebrates our common humanity and champions the protection of humankinds heritage wherever it exists in the world.

Although nearly all the members of the African Union are signatories to the World Heritage Convention of 1972, it took 30 years before the World Heritage Committee held its meeting on the sub-continent that is the birthplace of humankind. The continent used the occasion to take stock of the state of our heritage. The decision that South Africa host the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2005, offered Africa the opportunity to re-affirm the continent’s commitment to African World Heritage sites, especially those highlighted in the 2002 Africa Periodic Report.

The African Position Paper was later endorsed by the AU Minister’s conference in Khartoum as providing a strategic vision to address the challenges facing Africa in the protection and conservation of our heritage. This, we say, is a programme to deal directly with these challenges. Africa is extremely under-represented on the prestigious World Heritage List, accounting for only 7% of the properties on the World Heritage List. But by 2002, almost 40% of the World Heritage sites in Africa were on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

The Position Paper is inspired by more than the desire to see more African sites on the prestigious World Heritage List. Its primary thrust is that we can make our heritage relevant to our lives in the present. The bald facts of the state of African World Heritage sites are that a number of palpable constraints make it difficult for many states in Africa to divert resources for the maintenance of these sites. The Position Paper addresses the problem by turning the question around. That is: How do we make African World Heritage sites self-sustaining? How do we turn them into assets rather than liabilities? What can these World Heritage Sites contribute towards the eradication of poverty in our countries?

The Africa Position Paper directs us to seek and create opportunities as set out in the African Union’s 2004-2007 sectoral plan for culture. It envisions a continent–wide cultural renaissance as a springboard to assist African economies to take off.

The forward-looking vision of the African Position Paper has won it overwhelming support not only in UNESCO and its World Heritage Committee, but also from the African Union. The paper is essentially a programme of action outlining a series of actions that need to be taken to enable Africa to assume her rightful place among the continents. It is coupled with specific time-frames. The mechanism it recommends this task should be entrusted to is an African World Heritage Fund.

The African World Heritage Fund is essential for the implementation of the 10 year Action Plan contained in the Africa Position Paper. Among its 8 objectives the Action Plan seeks to increase the number of African sites on the World Heritage List; reduce the number and eventually remove all African sites from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Action Plan identifies the strengthening of heritage protection and management as a priority. The regrettable conflicts that affect far too many African states and natural disaster situations impair and undermine the management of sites. The improvement and enhancement of the institutional, policy and legal frameworks will also require attention so as to ensure that natural and cultural heritage contribute to sustainable development.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the shared platform the AU adopted, treats culture and heritage as integral to the development programmes of the Continent, with a special emphasis on the protection of indigenous knowledge systems. The Position Paper and the Action Plan for the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Africa, like NEPAD, is an integrated programme for sustainable development. The escalating poverty levels, underdevelopment and the continued marginalization of Africa require us to harness every economic asset we possess.

Good governance is a basic requirement for peace, security and sustainable political and socio-economic development. African leadership and ownership of development programmes, as well as broad participation by all sectors of society, are essential ingredients for success. That implies anchoring the development of Africa on the continent’s resources and the resourcefulness of her people. Partnerships, in the first instance between and amongst African peoples themselves, will be necessary to pursue these ambitious goals. The acceleration of regional and continental integration through our regional inter-state bodies, such as SADC and ECOWAS, will also help to build the competitiveness of African economies and the continent. It’s only by improving the terms on which we meet others that Africa can forge new international partnerships to change the unequal relationship between Africa and the developed world. Realisation of the Millennium Development Goals and other agreed developmental targets are dependent on such interventions.

The importance of culture for development was recognized by the African Union which devoted a special session to culture, including heritage and education, in January 2006.

The launch of the African World Heritage Fund today is but one step to improve the management and conservation of our common heritage for the benefit of all humankind. This launch is also an African-inspired initiative to contribute to the protection and conservation of that portion of our common human heritage over which we have been given stewardship.

As citizens of this continent, we are intensely proud of the fact that Africa is the Cradle of Mankind. It was also among the ancient kingdoms of Africa that we find the earliest examples of abstract human thought. Many African writings which have recently come to light have been recognized internationally as outstanding examples of scholarship in the sciences, astrology, medicine, speculative thought and theology. The fragility of these, their immeasurable value as records of African achievement,and the imperatives of preserving them for posterity, have persuaded a number of African states to cooperate for this purpose. They convey a host of intangible values interwoven into a rich tapestry of custom and tradition. Humanity would be the poorer if they were lost.

We can no longer rely on traditional methods of conservation and protection. The pressures rooted in under-development and poverty have created serious new threats to heritage sites. One of the challenges of the African Renaissance is empowering Africans to know, and to take pride in their world heritage sites, which are equal to those of other peoples of the world.

The final version of DBSA feasibility study report, a legal opinion from corporate law experts, and a ten year financial plan based on an initial capital endowment, were submitted to the World Heritage Centre for translation and publication in the official working languages of UNESCO. The report, which complements the Position Paper, recommends that the African World Heritage Fund be established as a Trust, registered and located in South Africa. This recommendation was endorsed by the African Union Ministers of Culture, as captured in the report of the Intergovernmental Experts meeting

It proposes a permanent Board of Trustees that will consist of one heritage expert from each of the five African Union regions; a representative from the World Heritage Centre, and a representative from the African Union Commission for Social Affairs. The permanent Board members could be appointed immediately, once the fund is launched. At a corporate level, we will establish formal links with the Nordic World Heritage Foundation in order to learn from their experiences in setting up such foundations.

Our aim is to launch the Fund with a targeted initial capital endowment of at least 10 million US dollars. Judging from the pledges made here today, we have made significant progress towards reaching this target. We will require approximately 19 million US dollars over the next 10 years to be able to implement the Action Plan.

At the 29th session in July 2005 and at the 15th General Assembly of States Parties in October 2005, more than 18 countries pledged support for the African World Heritage Fund. They are Norway, the Netherlands, India, China, Egypt, Nigeria, Libya, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Namibia, Yemen, Tunisia, Croatia and Algeria, Israel, and Portugal. We expect further pledges as the significance of what we are undertaking becomes more widely known.

At a briefing in Paris on 22 February 2006, the Africa Group indicated that it received formal correspondence from the AU Commission urging it to participate meaningfully in the establishment of the Fund.

Our aim is to evolve structured partnerships with key corporations with specific interests in the arts, culture and heritage as well as with those with Pan-African investments, who can become the primary source of income by way of major donations. We have invited many of these corporations to the launch and we shall be following up expressions of interest and pledges immediately after the launch.

In the long term, income will have to derive from annual country contributions, interest on investments, rolling 3-5 year grants from Development Finance Institutions, and supplementary income from annual fundraising drives among the private sector.

I want to use this opportunity to express our profound gratitude to the Government of Norway for their contribution towards the meeting of African Heritage Experts who finalized the African Position Paper on the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention in Africa in March 2005. Let me also express my gratitude to the governments of China, India, the Netherlands and Israel for their generous financial contributions to the feasibility study undertaken by the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

And, finally, let me thank you all, ladies and gentlemen, for your continued support for the African World Heritage Fund.

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