World Heritage Sites (WHSs) play a crucial role in preserving and promoting cultural heritage by;

• enhancing the international and national image of heritage destinations,

• attracting tourists,

• fostering awareness about the significance of these sites

• The recognition of WHSs by UNESCO not only aids in safeguarding their unique features but also leads to increased visitation,necessitating the implementation of stricter measures for preservation.

• Utilizing semantic web technologies like ontologies, such as CIDOC CRM, enables the development of data models for heritage sites, facilitating better information retrieval and enhancing visitor experiences.

• Furthermore, the spatial-temporal distribution features of World Cultural Heritage Sites (WCHS) across continents like Asia, Europe, and Africa underscore the need for targeted protection, digital technologies, and scientific approaches to safeguard these invaluable cultural assets 5.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is currently holding  its 46th session from 21 to 31 July 2024 in New Delhi (India). Among other things, it’s examining the proposals of 28 sites for inscription on the World Heritage List, and the state of conservation of 123 sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, and on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Gedi town, has been inscribed in the UNESCO list alongside other world heritage sites on the list of 28 nominations to the World Heritage List.

Being on the World Heritage List provides several benefits. These include;

• Increased international attention, technical cooperation, governmental support, improvements to management, and enhanced funding opportunities .

• The World Heritage List draws attention to sites and traditions that are in danger of disappearing and assists in their preservation .

• It also serves as a comprehensive policy framework for the identification, management, governance, and protection of outstanding natural marine areas .

• Additionally, being on the list can help sites that are undetected, disregarded by national decision-makers, not commercially exploitable, and lacking national financial resources, political control, and technical knowledge for conservation .

• The World Heritage List is particularly beneficial for sites that are not already popular and where market forces or national conservation lists may not be as effective .

• Enhanced protection of the rich cultural landscape and cultural sites.

• Regional economic development.

• increased tourism opportunities and visitation.

• increased employment opportunities and income.

• improved planning and management of the region

•  improved management and protection of the local environment.

• Achieving World Heritage status can attract investment in regions, including for regional infrastructure.

The World Heritage Committee

The World Heritage Committee is one of the two bodies governing the Convention for the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage. It is composed of the representatives of 21 States, elected from the 195 States parties to the Convention.

The Committee is responsible for implementing the Convention, for examining new proposals for inscription on the World Heritage List, and for assessing the state of conservation of sites already inscribed, on the basis of analyses produced by UNESCO’s advisory bodies and Secretariat. It meets once a year in an ordinary session.

Provisional programme

From 23 to 25 July, the Committee examined the state of conservation of the 124 sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, 57 of which are also on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

From 26 July to 29 July, the Committee examined the dossiers of 28 sites proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List. The sites were examined according to category: natural, mixed and cultural.

Gedi Town in Details

• Gedi's location along the coast and association with similar sites along the Swahili Coast made it an important trade center. Although there are few historical documents specifically associating Gedi with Indian Ocean trade, the site is thought to have been one of the most important sites along the coast.Gedi's architecture and an abundance of imported material culture including pottery, beads, and coins provide evidence of the city's rising prosperity over the course of its occupation from as early as the eleventh century to its abandonment in the early seventeenth century.

• Gedi was a small town built entirely from rocks and stones, which was inhabited by Swahili people. This historic town date back from the 15th century, and through careful preservation most of the original foundations can still be seen today.

• UNESCO has added the Gedi Historic Town and archaeological site to their inscription list .

GEDI Historic Town/ Archaeological Site

• The ruins of Gedi are a historical and archaeological site near the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Kenya. The site is adjacent to the town of Gedi (also known as Gede) in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.

• Since the rediscovery of the Gedi ruins by colonialists in the 1920s, Gedi has been one of the most intensely excavated and studied of those sites, along with Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and the Comoros.

• The site of Gedi includes a walled town and its outlying area.All of the standing buildings at Gedi, which include mosques, a palace, and numerous houses, are made from stone, are one-story, and are distributed unevenly in the town. There are also large open areas in the settlement which contained earth and thatch houses.Stone "pillar tombs" are a distinctive type of Swahili Coast architecture found at Gedi as well.⁠⁠

• Gedi's location along the coast and association with similar sites along the Swahili Coast made it an important trade center. Although there are few historical documents specifically associating Gedi with Indian Ocean trade, the site is thought to have been one of the most important sites along the coast.

• Gedi's architecture and an abundance of imported material culture including pottery, beads, and coins provide evidence of the city's rising prosperity over the course of its occupation from as early as the eleventh century to its abandonment in the early seventeenth century.