To what degree does a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing improve the conservation of heritage sites? Insights from the case of the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site (South Africa-Lesotho)

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I discuss the effects of a World Heritage property listing in terms of conservation, using as a case study the Maloti-Drakensberg Park, a transboundary area located in South Africa and Lesotho. More precisely, I question to what degree the 2013 extension of the UNESCO property initially listed in 2000, to include the Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho, led to changes in the modalities of rock art sites conservation, these sites being key heritage resources into this area. I demonstrate that the conservation outcomes of a World Heritage listing depend on several interacting parameters, such as the type of property listed, the listing procedure, the functioning of the list, the actors involved, and the multi-scale issues associated with the listed property. In conclusion, I emphasise the need for multi-scale contextualisation to discuss the effectiveness of a World Heritage listing for the conservation of a property and I present possible ways of action to improve its effects.

KEYWORDS:

• UNESCO world heritage site
• transboundary properties
• international diplomacy
• rock art heritage management
• Maloti-Drakensberg mountains

Acknowledgments

I thank all the stakeholders I have met in South Africa and in Lesotho for their time and the quality of our talks. I particularly thanks R. Béghin and L. Dupont for their hospitality and for their assistance for the 2017 fieldtrip. I also thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments contributed improving the paper. A first draft of this article was presented at the seminar “Politics in World Heritage sites” (March 2018, EDYTEM laboratory); I warmly thank my colleagues (L. Laslaz, C. Gauchon, A. Brancelj and M. Forget) for the exchanges held on this occasion. My sincere thanks also go to S. Hoerlé for the final reading of this article. All errors and omissions are entirely my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. https://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/, accessed 07/11/2020.

2. Using the UN list of member states and the UNESCO online database on World Heritage as references, in November 2020 194 states out of the 197 states currently recognised by the UN had adhered the WH Convention. This ratification requires them to adhere to the Convention within the limits of their sovereignty, enables them to select the sites they wish to propose for WH listing, and them to apply for the listing of these sites. https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/ and https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states, accessed 07/11/2020.

3. For an analysis of stakeholders interplay in the UDP, (see Duval and Smith 2013; Mazel 2012, 2018; Ndlovu 2016).

4. Created in 2006 by UNESCO, this fund supports countries on the African continent 1) to prepare nomination dossiers for WH listing, and 2) to improve their management capacities for properties already inscribed on the WH List. It also organises training workshops involving cultural and natural conservators from several UNESCO properties, which helps to build relationships between African WH candidate properties and those already inscribed on the List; https://whc.unesco.org/en/awhf; accessed 07/12/2020.

5. These data are based on discussions with the park agents. They concur with the data presented in the document Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site Sustainable Tourism Strategy 2018–2028, a version of which is annexed in the report submitted by the two states to the WH Committee. https://whc.unesco.org/document/170984; from p.576 sqq, accessed 13/08/2020.

6. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/98, accessed 08/08/2020.

7. After evaluating an application, the experts submit a comprehensive report, along with recommendations or requests for complements. Depending on their contents, these reports can influence the property protection measures: a request for precisions on the limits of the property or a clarification of its heritage values or management tools can require the applicants to revise their documents to satisfy the expert’s expectations.

8. https://whc.unesco.org/document/154,762, accessed 08/08/2020.

9. The experts may request that an application be deferred if it lacks significant elements and thus requires major modifications. This differs from a postponement when complementary information is requested.

10. The WH Committee is composed of representatives of the Convention’s 21 signatory states, elected by the General Assembly for a four to six-year term. For more information on the WH Committee, see https://whc.unesco.org/fr/comite/, accessed 08/08/2020.

11. Criticised for the lack of transparency in its decisions in the early 2010s, the WH Committee has, since 2012, posted all the debates on-line. The debates concerning the extension of the UNESCO Maloti-Drakensberg Park can be consulted here: http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/37COM/records/?day=2013-06-22#tP0j8Na-uW4o0; the discussion on the extension of the UDP start at 9ʹ20, accessed 08/08/2020.

12. All the debates relative to this extension request last 1.5 hours.

13. Between 2000 and 2013, other than the usual procedure of periodic monitoring (Duval et al. 2020), no complementary report on the state of conservation of the property has been requested by the WH Committee in South Africa.

14. All of these reports may be consulted on this page: https://whc.unesco.org/fr/list/985/documents/, accessed on 09/08/2020.

15. Other rock art sites benefit from the national monument status in Lesotho, such as the site of Ha Baroana, located 1.5 hours to the south-east of the capital, Maseru, or that of Liphofung, located 3.5 hours to the north-east of the capital.

16. https://www.heritagekzn.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/National-Heritage-Resources-ACT-1999.pdf, accessed 08/08/2020.

17. See the National Museum Project draft; https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000069631, accessed 08/02/2021.

18. Due to the remote location of the National Park (seven hours driving from Maseru), the two agents rotate living on-site. They are in charge of monitoring the sites, articulating conservation issues with tourism activities, intervening in nearby schools to present the cultural values of the park, and developing the ʽcrafts’ section with the local populations to enable them to produce objects that they can sell in the park’s visitor centre. Interview (author’s field notebook, informal discussions, 08/07/2017).

19. Author’s field notebook, interview with the cultural officer in charge of SNP, Ministry of TEC, 10/07/2017.

20. https://whc.unesco.org/en/soc/3927, accessed 11/08/2020.

21. This importance level is based on an aggregation of several factors: site vulnerability, clarity, rarity and complexity of the images, and research potential.

22. Its current closing is due to the difficulties involved in finding a manager. Its ʽpublic service delegation’ management configuration was assigned to a private operator expected to pay an annual fee to the government. Conflicts concerning the payment of this fee led the government to terminate this contract. Since 2016, no new manager has been recruited.

23. Annexed in the report submitted by the two states to the WH Committee in 2016. https://whc.unesco.org/document/156441; from p.7 sqq, accessed 14/08/2020.

24. https://whc.unesco.org/en/compact/; https://sgp.undp.org/innovation-library/item/2040-maloti-drakensberg-park-world-heritage-site–compact-site-strategy-for-sehlabathebe-natinal-park,-Lesotho.html, accessed 18/12/2020.

25. The definition of the ʽgood’ management of a site is highly debated among the scientific community and heritage site managers, several of whom criticise that western influence on the heritage values adopted and implemented by United Nations institutions (Breen 2007; Cameron 2020).

26. Defined by Article 11 (4) of the 1972 Convention, the WHD list includes cultural and natural properties that are threatened by ʽgrave and precise dangers’. http://whc.unesco.org/en/peril/, accessed 06/08/2020. Consisting of 53 properties as of 1 January 2020, most of the properties on this list have been damaged by catastrophic events (earthquakes, armed conflicts, etc.), while the Outstanding Universal Value of the remaining ones is considered as threatened due to the management modalities in place or current construction projects.

27. decision 31 COM 7B.11, http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1392, accessed 18/08/2020.

28. decision 33 COM 7A.26, http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1786, accessed 18/08/2020.

29. https://en.unesco.org/news/world-heritage-committee-deletes-liverpool-maritime-mercantile-city-unescos-world-heritage-list

30. Composed of different cultural groups and individuals that fled the English and Boers, the country was unified in the 19^th century. The son of a tribal chief in the north of the country, Moshoeshoe I unified the whole country and founded the Sotho kingdom in 1824.

31. These observations concur with the detailed analysis of the reports submitted by the States Parties to the WH Committee, which recount the amplitude of the actions performed by Amafa to reinforce the management of rock art sites in the SNP. https://whc.unesco.org/document/134933, accessed 13/08/2020.

32. https://archive.internationalrivers.org/resources/too-many-dams-too-little-water-Lesotho%E2%80%99s-rivers-could-become-waste-water-drains-1979, accessed 08/08/2020.

33. https://infrastructurenews.co.za/2013/05/28/lhwp-2-to-generate-1-gw-of-power/, accessed 09/08/2020. After several years of negotiation, feasibility studies, and archaeological studies to document the sites that will be submerged, the construction of the Polihali dam finally began at the end of 2019; https://www.afrik21.africa/en/Lesotho-government-launches-construction-project-for-polihali-dam/, accessed 09/08/2020.

Additional information

Funding

This work was subsidised by IFAS-Research (UMIFRE 25, CNRS/ MEAE) as part of its scientific missions in Southern Africa.

Notes on contributors

Mélanie Duval

Mélanie Duval is a senior researcher at the Edytem UMR 5204 CNRS Laboratory (University of Savoie Mont Blanc, France) and an honorary research fellow at the Rock Art Research Institute (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa). As a human geographer, her research is concerned with heritage, sustainable tourism and archaeological sites (rock art, lake dwelling remains), particularly in mountain areas (South of France, French Antilles, Alps, South Africa), where she analyses the dynamic balance between heritage processes and tourism development, with a focus on stakeholders’ interplay and the role of local communities.