Sustainable Development in World Heritage Policies and Management: The Italian Context

Whilst UNESCO can be considered to have played a key role in the establishment of environmental conservation within the United Nations’ policies, the World Heritage Convention of 1972 and the associated program’s contribution to the sustainable development perspective has been widely emphasized. The adoption of Agenda 2030 and inclusion of target 11.4 ‘Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage’ under Sustainable Development Goal 11 ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’, as well as the adoption by UNESCO of the Policy for the Integration of a Sustainable Development Perspective into the Processes of the World Heritage Convention, mark a significant progress in that sense. Yet, more than half a century after the adoption of the Convention many limits in its implementation have been highlighted, with special reference to protection and management processes at the local level. In addition to monitoring processes, we suggest that a closer look at policies adopted by Member States and lower-tier governments is needed. Focusing on the Italian context—the richest in World Heritage properties globally—in this contribution we propose a survey of WH-related provisions adopted at the national and regional levels, with reference also to local processes. The analysis shows that they include both explicitly dedicated and implicitly relevant policies, pertaining to three main fields: properties’ management and governance, support and funding for their protection and management, and funding for their promotion, hereby including further applications to the WH List.