The Declaration of Valencia (1996)

Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage (FUUH) . Higher education is crucial to the long-term preservation of World Heritage sites. As the World Heritage List grows, there is an urgent need for qualified professionals to manage every aspect of the sites, from conservation and preservation to tourism and interaction with local communities.

Preface:  The Declaration of Valencia (1996) was adopted by the First International Seminar Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH), Valencia, Spain, October, 1996.

The Declaration outlines the objectives of Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH):

  • University and Heritage, a network of universities concerned with the protection of cultural heritage and the role of universities in supporting efforts to conserve cultural heritage.
  • The network encourages the teaching of cultural heritage, cooperation and exchange between universities, and the mobilization of human and technical resources for the protection of cultural heritage.
  • The Declaration recommends that theoretical knowledge be supplemented by practical experience and encourages the development of mutual understanding between students through exchange programs.

Recognizing the responsibility and the important role by universities to facilitate heritage safeguarding and conservation, and taking into accountthe immense necessity of this field, decide to create an international Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) network, co-ordinated by UNESCO and the Polytechnic University of Valencia in order to:

  • bring awareness to young university students, as well as the general u population, to participate actively in the valuation, protection, safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage, rendering this a common act for practicing citizenship.
  • install and reinforce the international/national co-operation among universities, the co-operation of which is based on mutual exchange and solidarity about heritage.

What’s Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) ?

International Network Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage. Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage (FUUH) has created the UNESCO Chair ‘Forum University and Heritage’, by the agreement signed between UNESCO and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain) in 2013.
International Network Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage. Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) has created the UNESCO Chair ‘Forum University and Heritage’, by the agreement signed between UNESCO and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain) in 2013.

Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) is a UNESCO project for undertaking activities to protect and safeguard the cultural and natural heritage, through an international network of higher education. FUUH is under the joint responsibility of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) Spain.

Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage aims to be informed or to disseminate information widely about disaster and risk mitigation and management news and activities implemented by universities through the use of the network database freely accessible online.

To this date, International Seminars have been organized, in Valencia, Spain (1996 & 2001); Quebec, Canada (1997); Melbourne, Australia (1998); AI Akhawayn, Morocco (1999); Byblos and Beirut, Lebanon (2000); Amman, Petra and Irbid, Jordan (2002); San Cristobal de La Laguna, Spain (2003); Buenos Aires, Argentina (2004); Newcastle, United Kingdom (2005) and Florence, Italy (2006).  Most important resulting documents have been brought out:

What’s UNESCO Chair Forum University and Heritage?

upv_unesco_chair

The UNESCO Chair Forum University and Heritage, established in July 2013, brings the experience in the management of the international network in the field of higher education “Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage” (FUUH) created in 1995 through an agreement between UNESCO and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) with the aim of involving professors, researchers, students and professionals around the world in activities in favour of protection and safeguard of the cultural and natural heritage respecting UNESCO’s ideals.

With this goal and throughout this time, the FUUH network has carried out numerous workshops, exhibitions, publications, training courses and projects, especially highlighting their International Seminars. These activities have counted with the participation of worldwide heritage specialists and commitment of universities through institutional agreements.

The UNESCO Chair Forum University and Heritage expresses the commitment of the UPV to continue contributing to the preservation and enhancement of heritage through the cooperation between universities and promoting the growth and exchange of knowledge in the FUUH network, nowadays coordinated in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre (WHC) of UNESCO and has currently more than 3,000 individual members from 130 countries worldwide.

Moreover, all 5 key functions of UNESCO are represented in this Chair through its activities:

  • Capacity-building
  • Clearing House
  • Laboratory of Ideas
  • Standard-setting
  • International cooperation

In this context, the work area and objectives of the UNESCO Chair contribute to:

  • Encourage cooperation in higher education, the sciences, culture, communication and information, being common to the UNESCO Medium-term Strategy 2014-2021, in particular with the following strategic objectives:
    • Promoting international scientific cooperation on critical challenges to sustainable development.
    • Supporting inclusive social development, fostering intercultural dialogue for the rapprochement of cultures and promoting ethical principles.
    • Protecting, promoting and transmitting heritage.
    • Fostering creativity and the diversity of cultural expressions.
    • Promoting freedom of expression, media development and access to information and knowledge using the ICTs.
  • The protection of heritage, considering its diversity (natural and cultural, movable and immovable, tangible and intangible), taking into account its diverse forms and its triple function: identity, vector of development and instrument of reconciliation.
  • The dissemination and the implementation of international conventions related to the protection of cultural heritage (1954, 1970, 1972 and 2001), natural heritage (1972) and intangible heritage (2003), notably reinforcing the strategic objective of UNESCO to “Sustainable Protection  and enhancement of  cultural heritage”.
Category
Declaration

Date

1996

Promulgation

the First International Seminar Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH), Valencia, Spain, October, 1996.

Descriptions

  • The Declaration outlines the objectives of Forum UNESCO: University and Heritage, a network of universities concerned with the protection of cultural heritage and the role of universities in supporting efforts to conserve cultural heritage.
  • The network encourages the teaching of cultural heritage, cooperation and exchange between universities, and the mobilization of human and technical resources for the protection of cultural heritage.
  • It recommends that theoretical knowledge be supplemented by practical experience and encourages the development of mutual understanding between students through

Source

http://www.unesco.org/culture/forum/html_eng/spain.shtml

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Declaration of Valencia

First International Seminar Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH), Valencia, Spain, October, 1996

The representatives of universities participating at the 1st Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage Seminar, and together with ICCROM, ICOM, ICOMOS and IFLA.

Recognizing the responsibility and the important role by universities to facilitate heritage safeguarding and conservation,

and taking into account the immense necessity of this field,

decide to create an international Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage network, coordinated by UNESCO and the Polytechnic University of Valencia in order to:

  • bring awareness to young university students, as well as the general population, to participate actively in the valuation, protection, safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage, rendering this a common act for practicing citizenship.
  • install and reinforce the international/national co-operation among universities, the co-operation of which is based on mutual exchange and solidarity about heritage.

Urge universities

  • To mobilize at the national/international level the human and technical resources of universities for the benefit of the conservation of cultural heritage.
  • To raise awareness among young students of their responsibility in safeguarding and conservation of heritage
  • To create a solidarity movement, by means of linking the universities on a regional and international scale.
  • To reinforce inter-university co-operation through the transmission of knowledge and experience in the field of heritage.
  • To develop further curricula related to cultural heritage and improve its theoretical and practical approaches.
  • To promote mutual understanding among students from various cultures and a multicultural dialogue for peace building

And further invite universities :

  • To create local/national networks.
  • To develop further co-operation at the national and international level with other Universities in the field of heritage.
  • To create the Forum UNESCO network database.
  • To promote the creation of UNESCO Heritage Chairs.
  • To identify specific operational projects.

PRIORITY ACTIONS

  • To organize the co-operation, in response to the wishes of the representatives of Rwanda and Cameroon in the framework of the program “priority Africa” of UNESCO.
  • To prepare the next Seminar, scheduled in September 1997. (Notes: In fact, the Second International Seminar Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage was held at Université Laval, Québec, Canada, 5-10 Oct., 1997. Further information see Declaration of Quebec (1997).)

References

Intellectual Property

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  1. Declaration of Quebec (1997) – Open Repository on Cultural Property
  2. The Declaration of Melbourne (1998) – Open Repository on Cultural Property
  3. The Declaration of AI Akhawayn (1999) – Open Repository on Cultural Property
  4. The Charter of Vice-Chancellors (1999) – Open Repository on Cultural Property

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