ITALY
Venice avoids being placed on UNESCO’s heritage
danger list
By Jahanzeb
Hussain • Updated: 22/07/2021 - 19:36
Venice has
avoided being placed on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites in danger.
Italy's
move earlier this month to ban large cruise ships from Venice's lagoon is
thought to have been a key factor in UNESCO's decision.
But the
city remains a concern for the UN body: it has asked Italy to provide an update
by next December on how Venice is being protected from over-tourism.
Italy's
culture minister Dario Franceschini welcomed Thursday's decision.
“Now, the
global attention on Venice must remain high, and it is everyone’s duty to work
for the protection of the lagoon and identify a sustainable development path
for this unique reality,” he said in a statement.
But
non-governmental groups acting as observers to the process said the cruise ship
ban only addressed one of many issues threatening Venice, which include
over-tourism, the management of cultural and natural resources, and controlling
urban development.
The groups
also said the temporary decision to moor cruise ships in the industrial port of
Marghera still endangers the lagoon and that no long-term plans have been made
yet to manage ships and tourism in the city.
“The
persistent issues afflicting the precarious state of conservation of Venice and
its lagoon has long been associated with a complex and ineffective governance
framework,’’ Stephan Doempke, chairman of World Heritage Watch, told the UNESCO
committee. “It lacks a long-term vision and a strategy involving the local
community.”
Mass
tourism to Venice peaked at some 25 million individual visitors in 2019, while
the city of just over 50,000 residents loses about 1,000 Venetians each year.
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