The International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday to promote world heritage conservation with space technology. 

With heritages facing risks from natural disasters, climate change, and other dangers, space technology plays an important role in identifying, monitoring, evaluating, presenting, restoring, and conserving world heritages, said Guo Huadong, director of HIST.

Guo said innovative technological advances in remote sensing should be applied to improve the monitoring and protection of world heritage properties. “It’s our shared responsibility to promote the preservation of our common heritage across the globe,” he added. 

The signing of the MoU marks the start of a new collaborative journey toward the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, an international agreement that was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972. Both sides will facilitate the use of space technology to help world heritage sites, monuments, and institutions across the world, especially those in the developing countries, Guo said. 

Guo said, as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, both leading international organizations take the lead in undertaking joint actions to support the implementation of the Convention and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by employing cutting-edge technologies, such as space technologies, to offer global public goods and services.

Teresa Patricio, president of ICOMOS, said she considers the signing of the MoU an important milestone to make space technologies benefit the preservation and sustainable development of heritages.

Applying space technologies will allow dynamic monitoring of environments, a deeper comprehension of impacts and vulnerabilities, Patricio said. The two sides will jointly develop research programs on heritage preservation, climate change, sustainability and other themes and assist each other in the conservation, reservation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of heritages, she said. 

HIST is an international organization established in 2011 by UNESCO as a Category 2 Centre in Beijing, China, and hosted by the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

ICOMOS is a non-governmental international organization dedicated to the conservation of monuments and sites across the world.

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