“Despite its vast size, sub-Saharan Africa has never been proportionately represented on Unesco’s world heritage list…
Now, the first African to be made head of the world heritage centre has said that needs to change – and fast. Lazare Eloundou Assomo, a Cameroonian who led the reconstruction of the Timbuktu mausoleums after they were badly damaged in 2012 by Islamist fighters allied to al-Qaida, has said it will be a priority of his time in office.”
— The Guardian
Africa is currently the least represented continent (behind the Arab nations) in terms of the representation of cultural sites on the U.N. list, though it does account for 30% of all sites the organization considers to be endangered.
Assomo was appointed as Director earlier this month and told The Guardian he plans to pursue an ambitious strategy that will both protect and enhance the status of important sites spread throughout what he called “the cradle of Humankind.”
“The training and capacity-building of heritage experts is an area where we will have to put more emphasis on in the future to help address this imbalance,” he said. “Africa is today on the frontline of the effect of climate change. This is also something which makes us believe that mobilizing our efforts for existing world heritage sites in Africa should be a priority.”
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