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In contemporary international law, the tension between the public interest in safeguarding cultural heritage and private property rights — including investors' rights — is often hard to settle, as full realization of one of them may inescapably lead to sacrificing the other. Although this tension is resolved by domestic legislations through solutions that are sometimes quite heterogeneous, a considerable practice has evolved at the level of international investment arbitration, which allows some conclusions to be drawn concerning the existence of certain general principles of law regulating the interaction between the two values in question. In particular, certain restrictions to private property rights are legitimate for safeguarding cultural heritage, provided that they are applied in a proportional and non-discriminatory manner and investors are granted just compensation or financial aid and access to effective judicial remedies.

This chapter examines how public and private actors are using litigation, regulation, and international law to influence federal climate policy. It begins by reviewing past and present climate change litigation in the US to suggest the role of litigation in shaping federal climate policy. It then explores the varied ways in which domestic and foreign citizens are attempting to use existing domestic legal and regulatory regimes and international legal mechanisms to compel the US federal government to limit domestic greenhouse gas emissions. The chapter concludes by examining how domestic and international efforts to use litigation and regulation coupled with on-going sub-federal legal and political initiatives influence climate policy in the US.

This chapter maps the relationships between heritage and empire in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and their impact on notions of world heritage. It connects the history of heritage in the metropole with that in the colonies, and relates imperial entanglements to other emerging transnational connections. It outlines commonalities and differences across the British empire and compares the British situation with developments elsewhere. Mapping shifting attitudes to ‘plunder’ and ‘preservation’, it shows how imperialism and preservationism were mutually constitutive as preservation was increasingly promoted as an instrument of good governance. However, it also shows how, across the British empire, a rhetoric of imperial preservation masked the appropriation of indigenous knowledge by the imperialists, while imperial notions of heritage were subverted and reclaimed by the colonized.

An international strategy adopted by UNESCO including many least developed countries (LDCs) encourages its members to identify and submit nominations for heritage sites to the World Heritage Committee. This chapter outlines different potential funding strategies, such as debt swaps, user fees, conservation taxes, and departure taxes for the conservation and management of World Heritage sites in LDCs. Many LDCs face the problem of gathering appropriate public support for nominating a heritage site. World Heritage sites in LDCs also face challenges including limited financial resources. Thus LDCs need to develop income generating mechanisms for funding a cultural heritage sector. LDC governments also need to exhibit political will, commitment, as well as legislation for protecting natural and cultural heritage resources.

Chapter 4 addresses the intimate and frequently mutual relationship that exists between the cultural and natural heritage. In order to understand this relationship better, the shared norms and approaches in cultural heritage and environmental law are considered including, inter alia, their character as non-renewable resources, the notion of common heritage, sustainability and integration, and inter-generation equity. Some of the most relevant cultural heritage and environmental law is analysed to draw out more clearly these practical, philosophical, and legal linkages. The UNESCO 1972 World Heritage and 2003 on Intangible Cultural Heritage Conventions and their implementation are examined in detail. Two illustrative cases are presented: (1) the relationship between cultural diversity, biological diversity, and environmental sustainability; and (2) how cultural heritage law may contribute towards mitigating and even preventing climate change.

The international protection of tangible cultural heritage overlaps with that of the environment, ranging from the conservation of biodiversity to the prevention of desertification. Against this background, the phenomenon of climate change raises questions that challenge the fundamentals of the World Heritage Convention, which protects cultural heritage and interlinked natural heritage. Global warming critically affects cultural sites of outstanding universal value, such as the city of Venice, and depletes mixed cultural and natural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, such as Tassili n’Ajjer. Arguably, the World Heritage Convention is lex specialis with respect to international environmental regulation as concerns localized adaptation and mitigation measures protecting sites of outstanding universal value. By contrast, environmental regulation, notably the UNFCCC regime as reviewed in Paris in December 2015, is lex specialis as concerns general mitigation and adaptation, systemically integrating the protection of tangible cultural heritage. This argument also applies to intangible cultural heritage, including a human rights perspective. In fact, the fundamental right to culture has been invoked in international jurisdictions to protect intangible heritage, but still remains lex generalis with respect to the UNFCCC regime. As in a set of nested boxes, such an interactive pattern outlines a basic paradigm to shape the broader intersection between the regulatory regimes protecting tangible cultural heritage and the environment in international law.

Belt and Road is fostering infrastructure investments, transboundary development corridors, trade deals, as well as the conservation of World Heritage Sites, museums, and historical cities. The chapter discusses various projects and multibillion-dollar deals trumpeted as Belt and Road initiatives, and explores the template of cultural sector cooperation and regional integration that has been put in place, critically interrogating the complex cultural politics Belt and Road has set in train.

This chapter deals with alternative solutions applied in the current practice of state succession in cultural property, often driven by a concept of reconciliation. The impact of international cultural heritage law on practice of state succession in matters of cultural heritage is discussed. In particular, the chapter analyses the succession to international cultural heritage obligations. In such a guise, the links between the protection of human rights and preservation of tangible cultural heritage are explored in relation to the peace processes in Bosnia–Herzegovina and Kosovo. It also deals with the procedural principle of cultural cooperation in respect of the resolution of cultural property disputes stemming from Second World War territorial changes and population transfers, and in respect of the post-colonial context. Finally, this chapter analyses the impact of international obligations with regard to the cultural heritage of mankind, including underwater heritage, on the practice and theory of state succession.

Chapter 5 analyses the evolving conception and protection of landscape in the World Heritage Convention. First, it traces the development of landscape protection from its early conceptual dependency on nature, to the incorporation of ‘cultural landscapes’ within the Convention’s scope in 1992. It then discusses the typology of cultural landscapes, issues of representativeness and the implications of the Word Heritage system for landscape protection globally, as well as locally. In this regard, a number of cases are analysed which, on the one hand, support the World Heritage Convention’s instrumental role in landscape governance, but which on the other, highlight the problems involved in ascribing World Heritage status to living landscapes from a spatial justice perspective.

This chapter critically discusses the current heritage management processes deployed at the Sigiriya World Heritage site in Sri Lanka, a significant tourist attraction. We examine the current condition of the site and the lack of involvement of the associated communities in its management. Through a series of inquiries among healers, artisans, and irrigation managers, new insights are gained into indigenous heritage values and meanings that are separated from heritage values assigned to Sigiriya. These insights compel an argument for the necessity to incorporate the ideas and opinions of the traditional knowledge keepers of the ancient villages in the vast forest land around Sigiriya. We end with suggesting a template arising out of local analyses for changing the management protocols at Sigiriya.

Here the analysis steps back to consider how a renewed interest in the Silk Roads raises important questions about world history and the identities of nations and cities. It is argued that Belt and Road represents an elastic and expansive international political economy that shines a light on previously ignored histories. Recent research on Central Asia and the Indian Ocean reveals the importance of these regions to our understanding of world history. Potential exists for new stories to be told through academia, museums, and historical sites, and through the media. The chapter also reflects on how forms of scholarly knowledge that feed into public discourses on Silk Road history are being rearranged and reassembled in an era of Belt and Road.

Under many UNESCO instruments there is a disconnect between the language of the treaties and the mechanics of the positive law, on the one hand, and the actuality of international heritage management practice, on the other. Specifically, existing primary norms often do not set sufficiently clear legal obligations. This chapter explores this mismatch with a focus on (concurrent) State responsibility in the context of the World Heritage program. It focuses specifically on two different levels of State involvement in heritage protection: (1) multinational heritage nominations and (2) heritage that is listed by only one State, but that is also of interest to another State. The 1972 World Heritage Convention places heritage squarely within the territorial State’s sovereignty, even if it does recognize that States have a duty to cooperate in the protection of world heritage in other States as well. The duty of cooperation is seen as eroding State sovereignty, but critics also highlight that in fact there is too much sovereign control over those allegedly sovereignty-eroding dimensions of World Heritage processes.

This chapter presents research on the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape Uluru-Kata Tjuta in Australia. Drawing from ethnographic interviews of heritage experts and archival research, the chapter examines the politics embedded within managing and interpreting cultural landscapes in World Heritage contexts. It asks: how do heritage designations affect claims to traditional homelands, resources, and subsistence and resource management practices? The data show how largely apolitical and ahistorical narratives reconfigured the historical and social conditions of the park and redefined Traditional Owners' relationship to Country. It argues that state and national laws and World Heritage and national park policies work in ways that force Traditional Owners to make claims within systems that are largely incompatible with their custodial responsibilities, knowledge practices, and customary laws.

This chapter first reconstructs the international law directly applicable to the protection of world heritage from risks associated with disasters of natural or anthropic origin. It then focuses on certain legal instruments that, although not explicitly devoted to the preservation of world heritage, may also indirectly contribute to its protection from the aforementioned risks. Next, it defines the role of new actors in implementing international strategies to reduce the impact of disasters on cultural and natural heritage. It also identifies two phases in the evolution of international policy. The first is anchored to a classical view of international law, characterized by the dominant role of states and the increasing involvement of international organizations. The second, still under development, shows a greater involvement of non-state actors in defining policies for the prevention and management of damage to world heritage related to disasters of natural or anthropic origin, and the recognition of world heritage as a “common good” whose enjoyment improves the quality of life of present and future generations.

This chapter provides an historical account of the negotiations that preceded the 1983 implementation of the 1970 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention in the United States as the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). It also shows that some art museums lined up with anthropology museums during negotiations over the CPIA—but this does nevertheless have a general relevance. In particular, the chapter describes some of the legal remedies that have been adopted for the protection of the world cultural patrimony, both at the international level and, in greater detail, with regard to the legislation of the United States. The chapter gives an overview of some aspects of current U.S. law regulating international trade in antiquities in the United States. The history of the political struggles and compromises that shaped the U.S. Cultural Property Implementation Act in its present form is recounted. Moreover, the chapter offers some suggestions for possible improvements in the Act. It appears to be that the long-term task for archaeologists must be to sensitize both citizens and politicians to the immense loss to historical patrimony that is being caused by the illicit trade in antiquities.

Intentional destruction of cultural heritage by extremist non-State actors—be it by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, or Boko Haram in Nigeria—is on the rise. Using the destruction of cultural heritage in Mali in 2012–13 as a case study, this chapter argues that the creation of the self-proclaimed independent State of ‘Azawad’ in Mali became a ‘test case’ for the United Nations’ will and capacity to prevent further destruction of world cultural heritage, and it also analyzes the legal foundation of the 2013 French military Operation Serval in Mali. It also discusses the responsibility to protect as applied to cultural heritage, evaluates the subsequent deployment of the United Nations MINUSMA, and evaluates the mandate given by UN Security Council Resolution 2100 (2013), the first in UN history that included comprehensive protection of cultural and historical sites as a task of a UN peacekeeping operation. Therefore, the chapter reviews critically not only the mandate of MINUSMA, but also its potential relevance concerning future culture-embedded UN peace missions, and also contributes to the debate of the usefulness of more ‘robust’ cultural protection action by the United Nations.

Within the debate of nationalism versus internationalism, this chapter describes the development of international cultural heritage law, analyzes the notions and concepts used in this context, and highlights the existing shortcomings and loopholes in national and international legal frameworks in this field. First, the chapter explores the concept of a World Heritage Trust, and argues that the procedure used to designate World Heritage sites has become a national contest between States to obtain as many designations as possible, rather than the international and non-partisan procedure intended. Second, the chapter addresses the issue of trafficking in movable cultural heritage, by arguing that an exclusive focus on patrimony and national export laws (nationalism) is unidimensional and insufficient to protect movable cultural heritage from trafficking. In contrast, the mutual recognition of export laws through export and import regulations is a much more comprehensive and truly international approach (internationalism). In view of recent developments at the national level in Germany, as well as at EU level, the chapter demonstrates coordination between export and import regulations is necessary to protect cultural heritage against destruction and trafficking.

This chapter deals with the destruction of the Sufi saints' mausoleums (a World Heritage Site) during the six-month occupation of Mali's northern regions by Tuareg-Islamist forces. Prior to the occupation, the government, foreign entities, and religious NGOs had deeply invested in the field of culture as a strategy to strengthen the influence of moderate Islam in Mali and to counter the Islamist groups' proselytizing in the north. The chapter investigates the symbolic implications the mausoleums' destruction held for different constituencies (e.g. Islamist groups, UNESCO representatives, the local heritage elite, Mali's religious leaders) and charts some of the unintended consequences of the incursions by state and quasi-state organizations into the religious sphere—actions that ultimately produced a conservative shift in the Muslim community. The chapter lends support to efforts promoted by some representatives of Mali's Ministry of Culture to sustain and diversify Mali's cultural patrimony by not limiting heritage work to the protection of Sufi shrines, and suggests the importance of considering some of the debates surrounding the protection and restoration of Sufi heritage sites in Mali today.