Encouraging the participation of the local population in the preservation of World Heritage Sites is one of the mission’s of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. Community involvement is also critical in the planning process. This dissertation argues that community involvement should be part of the World Heritage List nomination process and long-term preservation of the sites and that mechanisms should be in place to ensure this as part of the nomination file. To support this argument, literature on community involvement and World Heritage Sites is reviewed. Part of this dissertation is to provide a framework for community involvement at World Heritage Sites. In order to accomplish this, the known potential socio-economic benefits of World Heritage designation are also reviewed. This provides a framework whereby communities can be consulted and involved in activities at World Heritage Sites with the goal of preservation of the site and achieving additional socio-economic benefits. This framework was used to explore the attitudes of eight Western Ukrainian communities on the use of their wooden churches that are nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List to improve their socio-economic conditions as well as preserve the churches. Previous studies focused mostly on the effects of World Heritage Site designation to produce social and economic benefits. This dissertation takes a different approach by involving the community at the nomination stage to determine which of these benefits they support and develop a plan of action and guidelines focused on achieving the desired changes. A community survey was developed under the supervision of this dissertation committee and Dr. Bevz at the Department of Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Complexes at Lviv Polytechnic National University as part of a J. William Fulbright grant to Ukraine. The survey responses were analyzed using both summary and statistical analysis to develop guidelines and a plan of action to be implemented by Lviv Polytechnic. This dissertation provides much needed research into community involvement at World Heritage Sites for their preservation and to achieve socio-economic benefits for the surrounding communities. The framework laid out in this dissertation has implications not only for Western Ukraine, but cultural heritage sites throughout the world.

The aim of this essay was to investigate the effects of adopting a site to the UNESCOs World Heritage List. Thefocus laid on the example of the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, which was the most recent Swedishadoption. With the question of impact of the World Heritage List in mind, the region of Hälsingland became themain focus. The study was made with particular focus on Gästgivars, a farm located in the municipality ofBollnäs, to which the theory of social life of things was applied. The result of the World Heritage was, in the caseof Gästgivars, an increase of the cultural value and social status.This case study has shown that the impact of the nomination has not been immense, but suggests that longtermeffects can show. The nomination to the World Heritage has led to some small changes in how thefarmhouses are managed, for example an increase of guided tours of a site. Although there were some opinionson how it was handled, World Heritage site recognition is looked upon as something positive. In this studyUNESCO and ICOMOS, in addition to other governing bodies, appeared to be authoritarian in some aspects,mainly when it came to local decisions concerning the World Heritage site. Thus, it has also shown that thoseinstitutions were not the only authoritarians regarding the handling of the site.The adoption of the Decorated Farmhouses could contribute to a feeling of community, or to create asymbol of the region and municipality, or perhaps a feeling of local identity and community. On an economiclevel, the World Heritage designation could contribute to additional income for the region and secondary effects.The case study is not completely a part of the experience industry which shows that cultural economy had littleeffects. Furthermore, the study showed that the adoption of the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland to theWorld Heritage List can promote the view upon culture in small cities and an alternation of the cultural life.To analyze possible interactions due to a site being added to the World Heritage list has succesfully beenperformed with qualitative methods and interviews. The interviews became the primary material of the study andwas backed by statistics of the number of visitors to a site, some documents, and historical facts.

The First Nation community of Poplar River in Northern Manitoba is using a UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination to assist with meeting local needs. Going beyond the expected, non-renewable resource development, Asatiwisipe First Nation is taking control over its own developmental plans, and forging an ecologically sustainable vision of community-controlled economic and political development. This initiative is an escape from the ‘progress trap’ where Indigenous resource stewardship practices will guide sustainable community economic development. This thesis explores the application of intangible cultural heritage as a lens for looking at the culture/nature discussion, food sovereignty, Indigenous resource management as well as Aboriginal and treaty rights. Based on longitudinal research over the past eight years, this dissertation is a collection of interviews and narratives from community members, personal experiences and policy research. Despite systemic Eurocentrism and many challenges, permanent protection of the Poplar River Community Conserved Area through the World Heritage Site nomination is perhaps the best solution for the community as it is an initiative that has been instigated by the First Nation itself.

Since the Vredefort Dome‟s listing as a World Heritage Site in June 2005, the area has seen a steady increase in tourists to both the local towns of Parys and Vredefort and the Vredefort Structure. Tourists venturing into the field in an attempt to explore the area have an insatiable appetite for information. By unfolding the gold and granite mining heritage of the area, a world of interesting facts and fables is exposed. The special geological character of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site is enhanced by the mining interventions which started in the 1800s. The mines provide a glimpse into the earth‟s fresh crust which would otherwise have been obscured form the eye of the scientist/researchers, young potential earth scientists and the enquiring tourist. This study is aimed at identifying, for the first time, the localities of the major mining and quarrying sites in the area. This enabled investigation into and characterization of the exposed sites on the basis of their tourism and academic value. These sites were classified in order to identify those sites that should be made safe, rehabilitated and allowed access to tourists and scientists and those where access should be restricted but made safe in such a way that will allow access to animals and birds. The value of this initiative with regard to the stimulation of learners‟ scientific needs should not be under-estimated. The wide spectrum of natural, biological and physical sciences can be inspiring. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Since the Vredefort Dome‟s listing as a World Heritage Site in June 2005, the area has seen a steady increase in tourists to both the local towns of Parys and Vredefort and the Vredefort Structure. Tourists venturing into the field in an attempt to explore the area have an insatiable appetite for information. By unfolding the gold and granite mining heritage of the area, a world of interesting facts and fables is exposed. The special geological character of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site is enhanced by the mining interventions which started in the 1800s. The mines provide a glimpse into the earth‟s fresh crust which would otherwise have been obscured form the eye of the scientist/researchers, young potential earth scientists and the enquiring tourist. This study is aimed at identifying, for the first time, the localities of the major mining and quarrying sites in the area. This enabled investigation into and characterization of the exposed sites on the basis of their tourism and academic value. These sites were classified in order to identify those sites that should be made safe, rehabilitated and allowed access to tourists and scientists and those where access should be restricted but made safe in such a way that will allow access to animals and birds. The value of this initiative with regard to the stimulation of learners‟ scientific needs should not be under-estimated. The wide spectrum of natural, biological and physical sciences can be inspiring. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

This study deals with the implications of implementing the World Heritage site of Laponia in northern Sweden. Laponia, consisting of previously well-known national parks such as Stora Sjöfallet and Sarek, obtained its World Heritage status in 1996. Both the biological and geological significance of the area and the local Sami reindeer herding culture are included in the justification for World Heritage status. This thesis explores how Laponia became an arena for the long-standing Sami ethno-political struggle for increased self-governance and autonomy. In many other parts of the world, various joint management schemes between indigenous groups and national environmental protection agencies are more and more common, but in Sweden no such agreements between the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Sami community have been tested. The local Sami demanded to have a significant influence, not to say control, over the future management of Laponia. These were demands that were not initially acknowledged by the local and national authorities, and the negotiations about the management of Laponia continued over a period of ten years. This thesis shows how the local Sami initially were marginalized in the negotiations both because of their alleged “difference” and because of their alleged “similarity” to the majority population. By navigating through what can be described as “a politics of difference,” the Sami involved eventually succeeded in articulating their cultural and historical difference in such a way that they were perceived as different but equal in relation to the other actors. By describing the many twist and turns of the negotiations between the local Sami and the local authorities, this thesis shows how the involvement of international agencies and global protection aspirations, such as the World Heritage Convention, might establish a link between the local and international levels that to a certain extent bypasses the national level and empowers indigenous/local peoples and their ethno-political objectives. As such, this study demonstrates how local/indigenous peoples’ involvement in environmental protection work is above all a political issue that ultimately leads to a situation where their relation with the state authorities is reshaped and reassessed.

Wombats (Vombatidae, Marsupialia) are fossorial marsupials that are most closely related to koalas amongst living marsupials. The cheek teeth of wombats are unique amongst Australian marsupials in being hypselodont (the condition where the teeth continue to grow throughout life and the formation of roots is suppressed). Hypselodonty is an adaptation to high degrees of tooth wear. The fossil record of vombatids is largely restricted to Pliocene to recent deposits and is largely represented by isolated teeth. Six genera are currently recognised from these deposits, all of which have hypselodont teeth. To date, a single isolated vombatid tooth has been described from pre-Pliocene deposits of South Australia and is the only example of a vombatid cheek tooth that possesses roots. Seventy specimens, representing five species of vombatid, have been recovered from Oligo-Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Site in northwestern Queensland and are described here. Among these are four new species and one new genus. A new species of Warendja from Riversleigh is described. It represents the oldest known hypselodont vombatid. This species is compared with additional specimens of the Pleistocene species of Warendja (W wakefieldi). Three species of Rhizophascolonus and a new monotypic genus are also described. Phylogenetic analysis of these taxa indicates that Rhizophascolonus may represent a sister taxon to the other vombatids. These specimens comprise almost all known examples of Oligo-Miocene vombatids. Most of the specimens are isolated teeth and are highly variable in size and morphology. Cusp detail is clearly preserved on many, allowing for omparison with the cusp morphology on juvenile cheek teeth of the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus). All of the taxa found in the deposits at Riversleigh share a number of characters such as marked differences in enamel thickness and height around the cheek teeth. It is argued here that these shared characters are indicative of high amounts of tooth wear and/or occlusal stresses acting on the trailing edge enamel. Combined with evidence of scratch-digging adaptations of the forelimbs it is suggestive of a rhizophagous niche for at least some of these early vombatids.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-03-07T13:44:47Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Rio de Janeiro Patrimônio Mundial-a invisivel paisagem entre a montanha e o mar_FloraCardoso_MDU.pdf: 8335686 bytes, checksum: c992f00e5ec7b293ab36273bdba569a8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-07T13:44:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Rio de Janeiro Patrimônio Mundial-a invisivel paisagem entre a montanha e o mar_FloraCardoso_MDU.pdf: 8335686 bytes, checksum: c992f00e5ec7b293ab36273bdba569a8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-08 / CNPQ / A paisagem cultural do Rio de Janeiro foi inscrita em 2012 na Lista do Patrimônio Mundial da UNESCO sob o título Rio de Janeiro, Paisagens Cariocas entre a Montanha e o Mar. Tratase de um trecho que acompanha a orla da cidade junto à baía de Guanabara, e que inclui também os maciços do Parque Nacional da Tijuca e sua grande floresta urbana. Apesar da justificativa do valor patrimonial, o trecho da área urbana localizada entre a montanha e o mar não faz parte da delimitação da paisagem cultural. Essa ocorrência levantou questionamentos quanto ao trato da paisagem como patrimônio, principalmente das paisagens urbanas. Sendo assim, o objetivo da pesquisa foi verificar em que medida os critérios da UNESCO para inscrição de paisagens culturais contemplam as características urbanas da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. A partir de um estudo teórico-conceitual sobre a paisagem e de sua relação com o patrimônio foi definida a abordagem da paisagem, segundo Berque, como uma entidade relacional entre o homem e o meio. Então parte-se para caracterizar a cidade do Rio de Janeiro por sua riqueza geográfica ao longo da história analisando a relação intrínseca cidade e natureza no processo de urbanização que revelou sua paisagem ao mundo para designá-la de valor excepcional universal. Práticas locais, como a Convenção Europeia da Paisagem, mostraram que a UNESCO não tem contemplado as demandas contemporâneas das paisagens, pois os critérios utilizados pela organização privilegiam a relação literal entre homem e meio, como as atividades agrícolas ou espirituais, e pouco atendem aos contextos mais complexos como os urbanos. A inclusão da paisagem carioca na Lista do Patrimônio Mundial se configura como uma exceção, assim como a paisagem cultural da cidade turca Diyarbakir. Em ambas o caráter das paisagens culturais está vinculado aos atributos naturais, sendo valorizadas por suas visadas, distanciando-se dos atributos urbanos considerados de difícil gestão. Essas duas questões, a dificuldade de gestão e o trato da paisagem como “imagem”, negligenciam suas características culturais intangíveis, e são responsáveis pela invisibilização das paisagens urbanas como patrimônio cultural. / Rio de Janeiro’s cultural landscape was registered on the World Heritage List from UNESCO in 2012 under the title Rio de Janeiro, Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea. The subject matter is a segment that follows the waterline between the city and the Guanabara Bay, including the Tijuca National Park mountain range and its large urban forest. Despite the justification of the heritage value, the urban area located between the mountain and the sea was disregarded in the delimitation of the cultural landscape. This incident raised questions on the treatment of landscape as heritage, especially with urban landscapes. Thus, the objective of the research was to determine to what extent the UNESCO criteria for inscription of cultural landscapes include the urban characteristics of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Based on a theoretical-conceptual study of this landscape and its relationship with the concept of heritage the approach adopted has been defined the landscape, according Berque as a relational entity between man and the environment. So part to characterize the city of Rio de Janeiro by its geographical wealth throughout history by analyzing the intrinsic relationship between city and nature in the urbanization process which revealed the landscape to the world to designate it universal exceptional value. Local practices such as the European Landscape Convention, showed that UNESCO has not contemplated contemporary demands on landscapes; the criteria used by the organization favor the literal relationship between man and environment, such as agricultural or spiritual activities, and just meet the most complex environments such as urban. The inclusion of Rio's landscape in the World Heritage List is configured as an exception, as well as the cultural landscape of the Turkish city Diyarbakir. In both the character of cultural landscapes is linked to natural attributes, being valued for their target, distancing himself from urban attributes considered unwieldy. These two issues, the difficulty of management and landscape treatment as "image", neglect their intangible cultural characteristics, and are responsible for the invisibility of urban landscapes as cultural heritage.

South African karst aquifers are mainly associated with the dolomitic lithologies of the Transvaal Supergroup. Despite the socio-economic and environmental importance of these aquifers, no scientifically based methodology to outline areas that need protection from potential harmful activities exists. Thus an intrinsic resource aquifer vulnerability mapping method for karst terrains in South Africa was developed. The methodology is a modification of the COP aquifer vulnerability mapping method, developed by the Hydrogeology Group of the University of Malaga. The method is predominantly based on the capability of the unsaturated zone to filter or attenuate pollutants by different processes but considers two additional factors that either increase or reduce the protection provided by the unsaturated zone. These are surface conditions that control water flowing towards zones of rapid infiltration, and the temporal availability of a transport agent (rainfall). These three factors are combined to obtain a final vulnerability index, which is spatially visualised using five vulnerability classes (ranging from Very Low to Very High). Modifications to the original COP method include, amongst others, the consideration of rock types commonly found in South Africa, a statistical redefinition of high rainfall (wet) years, a revised consideration of rainfall rates to account for dilution processes and the consideration of older, sediment filled swallow holes. The method was applied to produce a vulnerability map for Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site near Krugersdorp, South Africa. The vulnerability map clearly shows the generally inferior but variable aquifer protection in areas characterised by dolomitic lithologies, while surrounding non-karstic areas offer moderate to high resource protection. The proposed aquifer vulnerability mapping methodology should be used to assess karstic terrains during land use planning and environmental impact assessments. As an easily understandable planning tool the maps can reduce the likelihood of aquifer pollution. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Geology / unrestricted

Archaeotourism (also called archaeological tourism) is one of the oldest tourism niches people have visited archaeological sites for centuries. A question that arises is whether less well-known archaeological sites have potential as archaeotourism destinations. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to determine whether Wonderboom Nature Reserve in South Africa has potential as an archaeotourism destination. To determine the potential of the Reserve as such a destination, the attractions of seven archaeotourism sites are discussed four World Heritage Sites and three less well-known archaeological sites based on a literature study. These sites are popular because they offer tourists interesting events and edutainment. Some contribute to nationhood and identity, and have aesthetic value and/or religious meaning. Some have personal significance, and offer mystery, nostalgia or adventure. In some cases, Google Street View is available. In respect of Wonderboom Nature Reserve, a sample of 35 visitors to the Reserve were interviewed in 2015 to gauge their perceptions of the site, using semi-structured interviews. Based on the findings of the literature study and the results of the interviews, the study concludes that Wonderboom Nature Reserve does have potential to be an archaeotourism destination. This conclusion is based on the reasons for which people visit World Heritage and less well-known archaeological sites. For Wonderboom Nature Reserve, it is clear that people visit the site for the Day of the Vow event, and for the four main attractions (Fort Wonderboompoort, the Wonderboom tree, the waterfall, and caves). Some come for nostalgic reasons, others for the various activities the Reserve offers, such as hiking. It is also a sacred site for the Southern Ndebele. Some visitors claimed that they wanted to search for the fabled Kruger millions on the site. The Reserve's rich historical and archaeological resources are also an attraction. However, for Wonderboom Nature Reserve to reach its full potential, this study concludes with a few recommendations, namely better maintenance and proper promotion of the site. Route markings need to be improved. This study is important because scholars often ignore less well-known archaeological sites and their potential contribution towards tourism. / Archaeotourism / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Historical and Heritage Studies / MHCS / Unrestricted