Cayman takes part in regional cultural workshop
Nancy Barnard speaking at the workshop
(CNS Local Life): Ministry of Culture Deputy Chief Officer Nancy Barnard represented the Cayman Islands at the second Trinidad & Tobago national workshop for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention (WHC). Delegates from most of the CARICOM countries participated in the 1-2 November meeting, as did two UK Overseas Territories: the Cayman Islands and Anguilla.
The goal of the workshop was to sensitise participants about the need to preserve and protect their respective nation’s history, artifacts and cultural heritage – whether natural, cultural, or combined – against future threats, said a government press release.
Barnard spoke on a potential avenue for Cayman’s inclusion in the WHC inscription list, conceptualised by maritime archaeologist Dr Peggy Leshikar-Denton, the director of the Cayman Islands National Museum. Dr Leshikar-Denton has represented Cayman at three previous WHC meetings in the Caribbean.
Workshop sessions targeted national stakeholders directly involved in the development and management of their country’s natural and cultural resources: senior civil servants, historians, museum curators, tour operators, tour guides, and managers of cultural and heritage sites.
In November 2014, in Havana, Cuba, the Caribbean States Parties of the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage adopted the Caribbean Action Plan for World Heritage for 2015-2019.
During this year’s sub-regional meeting, the group discussed the way forward for the plan. The workshop also made it possible to establish a national strategic plan for the future implementation of the convention.
Category: Culture
