Wilderness is crucial for global conservation. Contemporary research established that between 33% and 52% of the Earth qualifies as wilderness. It is a fragile, threatened resource which needs a global conservation framework. This role could be successfully fulfilled by the World Heritage Convention. The founding notion of the World Heritage idea ?? Outstanding Universal Value ?? bears a striking resemblance to the attributes and characteristics of wilderness. The two notions possess an indisputable cultural and historic affinity, embodied by their ??iconic?? dimension. This makes the synergy between wilderness and World Heritage extraordinarily effective, as the history of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area demonstrates. The Franklin Dam dispute, solved after the World Heritage nomination of the Tasmanian wilderness, is emblematic in this respect. It gave birth to the world‟s only protected area which includes close to 100% of the local wilderness resource, and which coincides entirely with World Heritage status. The classic wilderness character of the region matched and enhanced the iconic power of the World Heritage, and the outcome represented a watershed for Australia‟s wilderness politics. Locally, it also paved the way for the establishment of a thriving ecotourism industry, providing the core of Tasmania‟s ??green?? brand. Its lesson is still invoked in unresolved wilderness conflicts throughout the country, and could be applied to other similar international contexts, as a model of proactive wilderness reservation through World Heritage nomination and of economic development based on wilderness tourism. On the other hand, despite the cultural affinity wilderness was never chosen as a criterion for World Heritage identification, and therefore the Convention cannot coherently fulfill this role of wilderness protection framework before solving this paradox. The unresolved dispute over Tasmania‟s wilderness forests indicates that the lack of an official endorsement of wilderness as a World Heritage criterion deprives the Convention of the conceptual tools needed to successfully address those environmental conflicts affecting existing World Heritage areas, in which the resource at stake is namely wilderness. Including wilderness as a World Heritage criterion would fill this gap and provide the global community with an effective framework for the preservation of remaining wilderness regions.

Wilderness is crucial for global conservation. Contemporary research established that between 33% and 52% of the Earth qualifies as wilderness. It is a fragile, threatened resource which needs a global conservation framework. This role could be successfully fulfilled by the World Heritage Convention. The founding notion of the World Heritage idea ?? Outstanding Universal Value ?? bears a striking resemblance to the attributes and characteristics of wilderness. The two notions possess an indisputable cultural and historic affinity, embodied by their ??iconic?? dimension. This makes the synergy between wilderness and World Heritage extraordinarily effective, as the history of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area demonstrates. The Franklin Dam dispute, solved after the World Heritage nomination of the Tasmanian wilderness, is emblematic in this respect. It gave birth to the world‟s only protected area which includes close to 100% of the local wilderness resource, and which coincides entirely with World Heritage status. The classic wilderness character of the region matched and enhanced the iconic power of the World Heritage, and the outcome represented a watershed for Australia‟s wilderness politics. Locally, it also paved the way for the establishment of a thriving ecotourism industry, providing the core of Tasmania‟s ??green?? brand. Its lesson is still invoked in unresolved wilderness conflicts throughout the country, and could be applied to other similar international contexts, as a model of proactive wilderness reservation through World Heritage nomination and of economic development based on wilderness tourism. On the other hand, despite the cultural affinity wilderness was never chosen as a criterion for World Heritage identification, and therefore the Convention cannot coherently fulfill this role of wilderness protection framework before solving this paradox. The unresolved dispute over Tasmania‟s wilderness forests indicates that the lack of an official endorsement of wilderness as a World Heritage criterion deprives the Convention of the conceptual tools needed to successfully address those environmental conflicts affecting existing World Heritage areas, in which the resource at stake is namely wilderness. Including wilderness as a World Heritage criterion would fill this gap and provide the global community with an effective framework for the preservation of remaining wilderness regions.

xi, 114 p. : ill., maps (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Since 1975, the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia has been renegotiating its political and cultural place within Spain. The designation and promotion of places within Catalonia as World Heritage Sites-a matter over which regional authorities have competency-provides insights into the national and territorial ideas that have emerged in recent decades. This study of the selection and portrayal of World Heritage sites by Turisme de Cata1unya shows that the sites reflect a view of the region as 1) home to a distinct cultural group, 2) a place with an ancient past, and 3) a place with a history of territorial autonomy. These characteristics suggest that even though many Catalan regionalists seek a novel territorial status that is neither independent of nor subservient to the Spanish state, the dominant territorial norms of the modem state system continue to be at the heart of the Catalan nation-building project. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Alexander B. Murphy, Chair; Dr. Xiaobo Su

This thesis focuses on identifying hindrances of achieving a sustainable tourism development on a base of a World Heritage Site. Using a case study of the World Heritage Site Falun Great Copper Mountain, the thesis assesses the situational context by using qualitative methods. Five semi- structured interviews with influential stakeholders were conducted to get an inside view of the current situation and to identify site-specific issues. The thesis identifies a number of factors that determine the successful implementation of measures leading towards sustainable tourism in the long-run; the most important being the lack of clear guidelines for the whole destination and no holistic planning approach within the municipality. The thesis concludes that despite the increased pressures towards establishment of sustainable tourism, the concept remains challenging to operationalize for the World Heritage Site without frameworks and tools from UNESCO.

The interest in heritage tourism is increasing at the same time as the price on flight tickets is decreasing. World heritage has been around since 1972 when UNESCO adopted the convention for protection and conservation of world heritage. Today they are mostly seen as global icons and excellent tourist attractions, making tourists travel from all over the world to crowd around them. But how much do the tourists actually know – and care – about the real purposes of which the world heritages are elected? This thesis aims to examine the relationship between wanting to conserve and protect a world heritage, but at the same time wanting to use it and make it available for tourists. This has been done through a case study on the world heritage of the hanseatic town of Visby and interviews have been held with several of the responsible stakeholders. The result of the study tells us about how the destination Visby see the world heritage as something valuable they want to conserve and protect, but they also see many opportunities for tourism development that either follows from, or is benefitted by, the world heritage status. A recurring view is the importance of having a living city with people not only observing, but experiencing and understanding the history and culture of the world heritage. The importance of sustainable tourism is also discussed since it is considered a key to enable tourism development and still ensure the persistence of the world heritage in Visby.

Esta tese examina a noção de integridade - um dos principais crivos para a seleção de elementos culturais e naturais no sistema do patrimônio mundial -, buscando demonstrar a relação conflituosa entre os seus aspectos técnicos e político-administrativos na Organização das Nações Unidas para Educação, Ciência e Cultura [Unesco]. Para isso, a integridade é analisada a partir de três dimensões - a conceitual, a teórica e a institucional -, privilegiando fontes documentais como dicionários etimológicos e regulares; escritos da teoria do restauro; relatórios do Comitê e do Bureau do Patrimônio Mundial, de encontros de especialistas, de avaliação de nominações culturais e naturais; cartas circulares; guias operacionais; convenções; recomendações; e cartas patrimoniais, em diálogo com a historiografia sobre o tema. Assim, o trabalho evidencia que muitas decisões tomadas em nome da integridade foram impulsionadas por questões eminentemente políticoadministrativas, por vezes revestidas pelo véu da \"neutralidade\" das avaliações técnicas. / This thesis examines the notion of integrity - one of the main criteria for selecting cultural and natural areas in the World Heritage system -, seeking to demonstrate the conflicting relationship between its technical and political-administrative aspects in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [Unesco]. For this, integrity is analyzed from three dimensions - conceptual, theoretical and institutional -, favoring documental sources such as regular and etymological dictionaries; writings on restoration theory; reports from the World Heritage Committee and Bureau, expert meetings, assessments of cultural and natural nominations; circular letters; operational guidelines; conventions; recommendations; and heritage charters, in dialogue with the historiography on the subject. Therefore, the study shows that many decisions taken in the name of integrity were driven by eminently political and administrative issues, sometimes covered by the veil of \"neutrality\" of technical evaluations.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop the best practices for completing a comparative analysis for a cultural landscape World Heritage nomination document. The research focused on existing secondary documents including written reports and nomination documents, as well as experts’ opinions. The two objectives of the research were to complete an examination of the existing World Heritage literature and to establish the best practices to undertake the comparative analysis. A comparative analysis is required to provide comparisons of the nominated site with sites that are on the World Heritage List and those that are not. The material emphasis of the World Heritage Committee review process is challenging for associative cultural landscape nominations. The individuality of each landscape and associated culture is what makes traditional sites unique and challenging to compare to other global sites.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop the best practices for completing a comparative analysis for a cultural landscape World Heritage nomination document. The research focused on existing secondary documents including written reports and nomination documents, as well as experts’ opinions. The two objectives of the research were to complete an examination of the existing World Heritage literature and to establish the best practices to undertake the comparative analysis. A comparative analysis is required to provide comparisons of the nominated site with sites that are on the World Heritage List and those that are not. The material emphasis of the World Heritage Committee review process is challenging for associative cultural landscape nominations. The individuality of each landscape and associated culture is what makes traditional sites unique and challenging to compare to other global sites.

The thesis focuses on the way heritage is presented by two Greek state organisations, the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Greek National Tourism Organisation. It aims to explore the way practices are initiated for the presentation of the World Heritage Sites that Greece has nominated to the World Heritage List of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Archival analysis, interviews with people in the initiation and implementation processes and printed promotional material aimed at national level comprised the method of enquiry including primary and secondary sources and following a case study design. This mixture of sources was adopted in an attempt to identify and critically examine the association of World Heritage Sites with cultural, economic, educational, social and political values. Considering the socio-historical context within which the presentation of the World Heritage Sites is implemented, it was found that a specific image of Greece is promoted nationally and internationally. There is an attempt by the Greek state to redefine Greekness in the West with nominations of Byzantine Heritage Sites to the List that goes beyond the stereotypical view of Greece as a country of classical heritage. This is initiated at a time when the position of Greece in the West has been questioned. The findings revealed the role attributed to the international community, acting as the significant other, that provides a way for the presentation of specific World Heritage properties. Although it was found that there is not an intensified presentation of World Heritage Sites at national level by the two organisations, the way it is decided to present sites aims at giving a point of reference for people to imagine themselves culturally but also politically. Our focus, then, is based on the social organisation of Greek identity as was found from the promotion of the Greek World Heritage Sites initiated by two state bureaucratic organisations. The critical examination of the communication activities of the two organisations, indicated their role in the presentation of notions of nationality that are connected to heritage. The state takes the role of the nation, promoting through a nationalist ideology 'constituent elements of Greekness'. In fact, the two organisations actually base their decisions on the power of the tangible sites and initiate their communication activities accordingly. Conflicts towards the presentation of the World Heritage Sites exist between the Ministry of Culture and Greek National Tourism Organisation which are associated with the allocation of power that heritage entails, yet both organisations have a role to play in the presentation of Greekness. The significance attached to specific cultural heritage, associated with the past, centres around sites of classical antiquity and the Byzantine epoch, which, although different traditions, are heritages which the state of Greece presents as unitary through the presentation of World Heritage Sites and which come to define the bipolar identity of Greece at national and international level. This, though, has implications for the process of social organisation of identity in the multicultural world that we live in.

Thesis (M. Env. St.)--University of Adelaide, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-134).