Learning to Submit Bids

Aside from the Seven Wonders of the World, there is another register of historical and cultural monuments, which features over 750 sites. It is administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which has been compiling it for over thirty years in cooperation with countries across the globe. The World Heritage List contains the most outstanding sites that are especially valuable to mankind and need protection. UNESCO has two sets of criteria for selecting sites.

It selects culturally valuable sites that are true feats of engineering, architecture, or agriculture. The Egyptian pyramids and the ensemble of buildings in Lviv’s historical center were put on the list according to these criteria. The other set of criteria applies to natural sites unaffected by human activity, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Danube Delta. The list also includes those uncommon sites that meet both sets of criteria, i.e., natural sites that have been intelligently and aesthetically modified by human hands and which have preserved their singular properties. Several national parks belong to this group, including Guatemala’s Tikal National Park and New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park. Should any heritage site come under threat, it is added to the List of World Heritage in Danger, which enables UNESCO to focus greater efforts on its preservation. Added to this alert list in 2001 were the archeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan, where the Taliban blew up two giant Buddha sculptures.

The World Heritage List is administered in accord with the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which Ukraine ratified in 1988. Under Paragraph 11 of the Convention, signatories must submit a list of sites that qualify for the World Heritage List together with supporting documentation. To date the list includes only two Ukrainian sites: St. Sophia Cathedral and the Cave Monastery in Kyiv, and the historical center of Lviv. Ukraine also shares another World Heritage Site, the Danube Delta, with Romania. Compared to Poland, with its twelve sites marked on the World Heritage map, Ukraine looks like an insignificant desert. The extent of Ukraine’s progress in this matter depends on us, Ukrainians, since no one will be submitting World Heritage Site bids to UNESCO on our behalf.

Progress is in the hands of the restless. Fedir Hamor, a celebrated scholar from Zakarpattia, is vigorously campaigning to secure special status for the primeval beech forests of the Carpathians, only twenty thousand hectares of which remain. Half of them are clustered in the Uholsk-Shyrokoluzhansk tract of the Carpathian Biosphere Preserve, headed by Hamor. His latest book, Pralisy [Primeval Forests], is filled with scientifically-documented enthusiasm. The Carpathian primeval woods are of European, if not worldwide, importance and must be included on the World Heritage List. They are invaluable for researching the history of vegetation in the world. They are also precious in environmental terms, as they are the last stronghold of wildlife in the heart of Europe. They are home to almost all hoofed species found on the continent and three species of large predators: wolves, bears, and lynxes. The conservation of natural forests is closely linked with the preservation of the Carpathian peoples’ cultural traditions. Leading forestry scientists in Ukraine and elsewhere support Hamor in his undertaking. His Heritage Site bid is expected to include Ukrainian, Romanian, and Slovak tracts of these primeval forests, with the Uholsk tract slated to be identified as the central one.

Preparing World Heritage Site bids is a very complex and time- consuming task requiring special expertise. Ukrainian experts have had their applications rejected by the World Heritage Commission because they didn’t meet the requirements. For this reason Fedir Hamor did his utmost to have UNESCO experts travel all the way to Zakarpattia and explain to Ukrainian applicants the organization’s requirements and procedure for submitting bids. They also heard reports on new sites in Ukraine that have been proposed for the World Heritage List.

POLISIA LOWLAND

Ukraine’s Polisia is the largest low-lying marsh and woodland in Europe. It is home to a huge variety of swamps. Many rivers start here. Thick forests alternate with vast grasslands. This region is famous for its mystique and legends that are reflected in the prose and poetry of the Romantic period. Polisia is a vast region of wilderness almost untouched by humans. It is a place of biological diversity, where migrant birds stop over on their way north or south. Kyiv National University has proposed creating a trilateral Ukrainian-Polish-Belarusian natural World Heritage Site called the Polisia Lowland, which would stretch across 250,000 hectares to include Ukraine’s famous Shatsk Lakes, the Olmansk Swamps of Belarus, and Poland’s Poleski National Park.

ASKANIYA-NOVA

This small 11,000-hectare plot of wild steppe called Askaniya- Nova is a biosphere preserve, the oldest site in Ukraine’s fund of natural preserves. It was created in 1889 by Friedrich Falz-Fein. The primeval state of Ukraine’s Black Sea and Azov dry-steppe province has been preserved only in Askaniya, where 90% of the soil has never been touched by a plow. The preservation of the steppe in Askaniya is of major significance for the entire European continent. Despite its small size, Askaniya-Nova is Europe’s largest tract of fescue and mat-grass steppe that have lasted to this day, which makes it a relic of flora and fauna. The preserve’s administration has proposed Askaniya-Nova for the World Heritage List.

SOFIYIVKA NATIONAL DENDROLOGICAL PARK

The manmade landscapes of Sofiyivka National Dendrological Park have enchanted visitors for the past two centuries. This 169-hectare park is located in the town of Uman, Cherkasy oblast, on the banks of the Kamyanka River. The Polish architect Ludwig Metzel used small rivers, lakes, sculptures, grottos, and islands to portray the characters and events of Homer’s “Odyssey.” This distinguishes Sofiyivka from seventeenth-century French landscape parks, where sculptures and other elements were used to portray ancient mythology. The park’s administration plans to have Sofiyivka also recognized as a cultural heritage site.

SMOTRYCH AND THE DNISTER CANYONS

The Smotrych River, the left tributary of the Dnister, has formed incredibly picturesque canyons with steep, and occasionally vertical, cliffs a hundred meters high. The history of these parts dates back to ancient Greece, but paleontologists have unearthed settlements here that are even older. The most famous local historical monument is the Kamyanets-Podilsk Fortress, first mentioned in documents dating to 1374. The area also boasts the sixteenth-century Bakots Cliff Monastery and the sixteenth-century Panivets Castle, as well as over 300 historical and architectural monuments. Kamyanets is home to over 200 historical and architectural sites that are part of the National Historical and Architectural Preserve. This region is also unique in terms of its natural features. The local limestone cliffs are a little-known gigantic coral reef. Its closest equivalent is the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian coast, the only difference being that the Ukrainian reef is accessible to researchers on dry land. The authors of a report published by Kamyanets-Podilsky Pedagogical University say that this stretch of 75,000 hectares deserves to be part of the World Heritage List.

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The participants of the recent seminar departed for home with words of approval from their colleagues and helpful criticism from experts. Now they face the challenging task of presenting their sites to the scrutiny of the UNESCO committee.