Sustainable Development in International Heritage Law: Embracing a Backwards Look for the Sake of Forwardness?
Articles
Sustainable development and heritage protection are notions that usually go hand in hand. They both share the idea of the preservation of an idyllic, harmonious past. This article offers a critique of how the concepts of heritage and sustainable development interact, often to the detriment of heritage holders. Starting from the assumption that both of these concepts (‘heritage’ and ‘sustainability’) are inherently backwards-looking, I argue that the result of the pervasive use of these notions is that communities of heritage holders are essentially stripped off their agency and the capacity to control the meanings and uses of their heritage, and ultimately their own destinies. This paper use the example of the addition of East Rennell (Solomon Islands) to the World Heritage List, and Marimba Afro-descendant music (Colombia) as a means to unpack some of the tensions between the two concepts.