Tag Archives: UNESCO

UNESCO confirms that India will host its upcoming global intangible heritage committee session at the Red Fort. India is set to host the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, with UNESCO announcing the update during the opening of Journeying Across the Himalayas on 4 December. The session is scheduled to take place at the Red Fort and will bring together international delegates, experts and heritage custodians. The committee operates under the 2003 convention and oversees decisions related to the UNESCO intangible heritage lists. Announcing the development, Tim Curtis, Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia, says: “In four days, India will be hosting the 20th session of the committee at the Red Fort, where dignitaries from around the world will come to decide on the UNESCO list.” For the trade, the announcement signals increased global attention on India’s cultural governance and its role in heritage preservation.

Himachal Pradesh’s Spiti Valley has become India’s first Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, a move that puts the trans-Himalayan landscape on the global conservation map. The decision was taken at the 37th session of UNESCO’s International Coordinating Council of the MAB Programme, held in September. With this, India now has 13 sites in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh, while congratulating the state forest department and its wildlife wings, said, “The state government is committed to protecting and conserving Himachal Pradesh’s rich natural and cultural heritage and fragile ecology in the era of climate change, while ensuring harmony between developmental activities and nature.”