Cultural Sites in Danger-The Debate over Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley
UPDATE 8:40 AM Mountain Standard Time: The Committee just voted 14-5 with 2 votes abstaining to remove the Dresden Elbe Valley from the World Heritage List, making the Elbe the first ever cultural property to be delisted. It was apparent that no member of the committee took joy in the decision as the Madam Chair stated after the vote that each member of the committee shares the pain with the state party of Germany and that the decision is a collective failure by all parties to the Convention.
The meeting is running about a day behind schedule. The committee Chair from Spain is taking the time to ensure that each issue has proper consideration. Currently, the committee is discussing cultural World Heritage sites that are on the "In Danger" list.
The cultural site "In Danger" under discussion right now is the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany. Debate is rigorous and fascinating because World Heritage Center staff have provided the Committee the unprecedented recommendation to remove the valley from the World Heritage list.
The threat to the property is the ongoing construction of a new bridge that has been deemed to irreversibly harm the outstanding universal value of this cultural site, which is the amazing river landscape qualities that have been well preserved for centuries. The New York Times published an opinion piece from the Friends of Dresden on the issue last month. From that contribution:
This will be the first time that Unesco will be deleting a site from its list of several hundred World Cultural Heritage sites. The loss will severely tarnish Dresden’s status as a cultural icon. It will also greatly diminish the impact of Dresden’s message for reconciliation.
The bridge will be completed in a few months years. The Germany delegation just spoke along with the Mayor of Dresden. They both oppose the delisting of the site and have asked for an additional year of consultation before a decision is made. A delegate just weighed in saying that a failure to delist the site will set the precedent that countries are free to ignore the concerns and recommendations of the World Heritage Committee.
June 26th, 2009 - 14:46
Hi Will,
Which were the 5 WHC members to vote against the Dresden delisting and which were the 2 “abstainers”.
Interesting that Canada spoke in favour of the delisting when it opposed the delisting of the Omani Oryx sanctuary 2 years ago! Do you have any ideas/comments about the logic for the apparent “change of heart”. Has the Harper government finally got the conservation message?
June 26th, 2009 - 15:58
Hey Paul-
The vote was by secret ballot, so no one knows. Secret ballots are important to any voting process, providing a check against the horse-trading for votes that sometimes happens in voting bodies. Good question.
June 26th, 2009 - 17:50
But the debate was open so it should have been possible to get an idea at least of what countries were indicating in public even if they altered their vote in private! Was there anyone obviously “rooting” for Dresden?
It was surprising that the press release has indicated that Dresden as a city (if not as a cultural landscape) probably/possibly does have OUV and could come back later. Was that issue aired during the debate as a possible way of gaining some support for the delisting?
Despite the “secret ballot” it seems widely known (including a report in the Washington Post that Canada opposed the Oryx delsiting -it has been hypothesised that might have been because it didn’t want to establish a possible precedent re delisting over oil exploration in some Canadian WHS at some as yet unknown future time – Wood Buffalo for instance?!!
June 26th, 2009 - 19:14
Hi Paul,
There was definitely some members that were “rooting” for Dresden. But it was a 2/3rds majority that voted to de list it.
During the debates, and in the draft resolution there was discussion about Dresden, as a city, would be able to re-apply to get a new listing under different criteria.
The difference with the Oryx delisting and the de-listing of Dresden was that the OUV for Dresden specifically referenced the cultural landscape. And with the bridge, that is set to be complete in the coming months, that cultural landscape has been irreversibly damaged.
The Oryx case was damaged, but their was possibility to fix potential issues and restore its OUV.
Canada would not ever do oil exploration in their national parks. The public outcry would be huge! Look at the public concern about a coal mine that is not in, but near one of our national parks and WHS.
June 28th, 2009 - 15:01
Hi,
I was interested to see that the WH Centre made a recomendation to the Committee to delist? Up til now I had thought only the advisory bodies would make recomendations about sites on the list and that the Centre satff would remain neutral. That seems like a huge departure, was it discussed at any point?