Zerrudo of CCCPET, Grad.School talks about the impact of inclusion into World Heritage Inscription on Philippine sites i

Assoc. Prof. Eric B. Zerrudo, PhD, Director of Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics was one of the three invited international speakers in the International Forum of Baekje Historic Area entitled “Utilization of World Heritage Sites: Education and Tourism” in Iksan, South Korea, from July 17-20, 2019. He presented a paper entitled “Quo Vadis? The Impact of World Heritage Inscription to Three Philippine World Heritage Sites.” As a former commissioner of Philippine UNESCO World Heritage Committee, he supported the inscription of the Korean site in 2015. He was joined by Ms. Sue Miller, President Emeritus of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for Cultural Tourism (ICTC) and Ms. Katarzyna Piotrowska, Head of the Policy Department, National Heritage Board of Poland.

Attended by over two hundred cultural heritage officials, academics, and practitioners, the objective of the forum was to prepare the Baekje Historic Areas to the high education expectation and over tourism phenomenon that many World Heritage sites problematize today. The forum was organized by the Baekje World Heritage Center, the City Government of Iksan and ICOMOS Korea. The UST Graduate School – Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics in cooperation with UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines and University of Lucerne conducted the Round Table Discussion on the research “Understanding the Rights Practices in the World Heritage System: Lessons from the Asia-Pacific. The discussion was held in TARC Board Room, Thomas Aquinas Research Complex, University of Santo Tomas on April 11, 2016.

The research is a two-year study which aimed to identify the major factors that shape, prevent, enhance the implementation of right-based approaches in the World Heritage system in general, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region to craft the building block for informed policy discussions on human rights and World Heritage at national, regional and global levels.