Biodiversity as an Outstanding Universal Value for Integrated Management of Natural and Cultural Heritage

Abstract

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has set ten criteria for assessing Outstanding Universal Values (OUVs) for the inscription of properties on the World Heritage List. Recognising the growing challenge for heritage conservation and the need for professionals to work within systemic, holistic, and integrated frameworks in managing cultural heritage and using biodiversity as an OUV, this paper investigates how the intangible and tangible cultural and natural heritage of the Region of East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece is interconnected over the course of centuries. We review the evolution of the existing legislative framework to protect archaeological treasures and local flora and fauna and document the richness of ongoing ecological and biological processes in the region for strengthening the arguments for an integrated protection and management system. Locating the archaeological sites and monuments in protected natural zones and areas of exceptional beauty with the use of the open code QGIS programme and focusing on their description and analysis, the present research recommends their interlinked management under the leadership of a Joint Destination Management Organisation.

Restoring University of Lagos’s Campus Wetlands and Green Corridors: Sustainable Ecotourism and Landscape Design Approach

“…Exploring delicate, impeccable, and largely unaltered natural places is known as ecotourism [1][2][3][4][5][8][9][10][11][12]. It is a low-impact, frequently small-scale substitute for traditional commercial mass tourism that is common in megacities and urban areas where people travel around for sightseeing [17].…”

“…These wetlands can absorb and store large volumes of floodwater, which can help to lessen the frequency and severity of floods in the community (campus). A wetland can normally hold one million gallons of water, or around three acres, submerged three feet under [8,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]32]. When hurricanes or tropical storms hit land, coastal wetlands buffer land from storm surges [30][31][32].…”

“…The study's primary draws include the local plants and animals and in pursuit of this goal, the following will be looked into: identifying biodiversity surrounding the campus; fostering sustainable ecotourism on campus; improving sustainable tourism experiences; augmenting the university's economy through ecotourism; expanding access to green outdoor open spaces; lowering campus temperatures; improving air quality; and safeguarding and enhancing ecological goods and services with their natural surroundings. According to the World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is defined as "travel that promotes resource management in a way that fulfills social, cultural, and economic demands while preserving biological diversity, vital ecological processes, and life support systems" [8]. Benefiting host communities socioeconomically is a crucial aspect of sustainable ecotourism and it can also be stated differently that, the people who stand to gain the most from tourism should be those who live in and around the destination [9,10].…”

Plant Diversity in Archaeological Sites and Its Bioindication Values for Nature Conservation: Assessments in the UNESCO Site Etruscan Necropolis of Tarquinia (Italy)

“…Indeed, cultural heritage management activity provides some protection for natural heritage compared to other highly disturbed human ecosystems. This allows the growth of vegetation with natural or semi-natural features in these areas, with species and plant communities of conservation interest [28,30,31]. In some instances, it has been observed that the latter could even quadruple in number compared to other humanmodified contexts, where they are often threatened [29,[32][33][34][35][36].…”