Report on the Advisory Committee meeting in Marrakesh - 16 October 2019
The 2019 ICOMOS Advisory Committee meeting was held in Marrakesh, at the invitation of ICOMOS Morocco. The meeting was attended by 50 National Committees and 21 International Scientific Committees, 13 Board member observers and 90 Observers.
The meeting was chaired by Mikel Landa (President of the Advisory Committee), and Susan McIntyre-Tamwoy (ICOMOS Australia) was appointed as rapporteur.
It began with Mikel Landa reading the acknowledgement of distinguished members who have passed away over the past year. Christoph Machat (ICOMOS Germany) read a special eulogy for past ICOMOS President Michael Petzet.
The first section was devoted to accountability by all ICOMOS Bodies. Thus, ICOMOS President Toshiyuki Kono presented a report on the Board’s decisions since the last Advisory Committee meeting in Buenos Aires 2018. ICOMOS Secretary General Peter Phillips presented a report on 2018 Buenos Aires Annual General Assembly resolutions. Marie-Laure Lavenir, as Director General, presented a report on the International Secretariat’s activities. Mikel Landa presented a report on the work done by ADCOM along the year, with Douglas Comer (Vice President of the Advisory Committee) doing so with the National Committees and Regional Groups and Sheridan Burke (Scientific Council Officer) with the Scientific Council.
A second section followed with major ICOMOS initiatives:
- A brief presentation by Stacy Vallis about the Emerging Professionals Working Group and its activities.
- Stacy Vallis presented the major Scientific initiative “Journeys to Authenticity”, led by the Emerging Professionals Working Group, with the expected future participation of all ICOMOS National and Scientific Committees, as well as members.
- Andrew Potts offered a presentation about the Climate Change and Heritage Working Group activities and proposed the launch of the new Climate Heritage Network.
- Ege Yildrim spoke briefly about the activities of the Sustainable Development Goals Working Group, mainly on communication and advocacy with a view to mainstreaming cultural heritage in the SDG arena.
- To make efforts to foster local participation in ICOMOS activities and draw attention to local values was among the recommendations raised by Bente Mathisen in her presentation about Our Common Dignity Initiative-Rights Based Approaches Working Group.
- Abdelati Lahlou and Alicia Castillo, respectively Presidents of Morocco and Spain national Committees, presented the results of the Chefchaouen Pilot Project.
- Susan Mc Intyre-Tamwoy invited anyone interested in participating in the Culture Nature Journey to contact her, especially in the lead up to the major CNJ events planned for The World Conservation Congress in Marseille 2020 and the ICOMOS GA 2020 in Sydney.
- Samir Abdulac presented the results of Project ANQA, which illustrates how ICOMOS may respond to heritage challenges in areas of warfare and conflict.
- Toshiyuki Kono and Mikel Landa provided a joint presentation about the Advancing Leadership of ICOMOS Project, recommending to ADCOM officers and the Board to jointly identify appropriate measures to strengthen the intellectual leadership, improve the influence in all heritage processes, and strengthen the organization of ICOMOS, make strategies and implement them.
The third section was titled ICOMOS at Work and included:
- A World Heritage update by President Toshiyuki Kono with reflections and outcomes of 2019 World Heritage Committee Meeting.
- "Saving our Institutional memory". Asaf Ben Haim, presented a long-term proposal for ICOMOS Data Management prepared by the Emerging Professionals Working Group, aimed also to share information, while maximise use of various ICOMOS data platforms e.g. Open archive, Photobank. Innegard Mayer presented Goals of ICOMOnication, an ongoing communications platform project developed by the Austrian National Committee. Deirdre McDermott closed with a presentation about the topic, with the proposal to reform the RFC into a working group on Communications, Participation and Transparency.
- Mario Santana spoke about the Google Arts and Culture Initiative then proposed while showing a brief PowerPoint about the Scientific Journal and ICOMOS Publications, aimed to capture the scientific works of ICOMOS.
A process of appointment took place for Annual General Assembly 2019 Officers and General Assembly 2020 Committees (see resolutions and minutes of the 2019 AGA).
The Board also appoint the Travel Grants Committee for the 2020 General Assembly: Grellan Rourke (Ireland), Laura Robinson (South Africa), Ariana Patino (Colombia), Eran Mordohovich (Israel), Said Al Salmi (Oman), Mikel Landa (ADCOM President), an ISC representative or Scientific Council Officer to be appointed.
As well as the Gazzola Prize & Honorary Membership Committee: Sofia Avgerinou-Kolonias (Greece), Gustavo Araoz (USA), Hae Un Rii (Korea), Saleh Lamei (Egypt) – former recipient, Olga Orive (Mexico).
Under the section Doctrinal Texts under development, four International Scientific Committees presented their documents or charters, each of them at a different point of the adoption process:
- International Cultural Tourism Charter review.
- ICOFORT Draft Charter on Fortifications and related heritage.
- CIF (International Scientific Committee on Training) Principles for Capacity Building through Education and Training in Safeguarding and Integrated Conservation of Cultural Heritage.
- Intangible Heritage Charter proposal.
An introduction was made by Chair Patricia O’Donnell, of the 2019 Scientific Symposium “Rural Heritage: landscapes and beyond”, to be held in Marrakesh the following day (click here to access the Symposium's website).
Richard Mackay, presented the 2020 Scientific Symposium “Shared Cultures-Shared Heritage-Shared Responsibility” to be held in Sydney (you can read more information about the GA2020 Symposium here).
Regarding the official request to ICOMOS Board for the establishment of ICOMOS Puerto Rico National Committee, the Advisory Committee noted that after further discussion between the members from Puerto Rico and the President of US/ICOMOS, a solution agreeable to both parties had been determined, involving the establishment of a regional unit within US/ICOMOS. The parties will continue to discuss the details of the proposed arrangement.
Mikel Landa thanked everyone for attending and contributing despite the technical problems, and also thanked the rapporteur and the Secretariat for their assistance.
Finally, an unanimous vote of thanks was given to ICOMOS Maroc. President of ICOMOS Maroc, Mr Lahlou Abdelati responded with his appreciation that we were meeting here and hoped this would herald a greater attention on the heritage of the region.
Photo credits: ICOMOS
See also
More information about the 2019 ICOMOS meetings in Marrakesh
Report on the National Committees meeting in Marrakesh
Report of the Scientific Council in Marrakesh