Huh Min, right, administrator of the Korea Heritage Service, shakes hands with Nayef Al-Fayez, center, UNESCO assistant director-general for culture, and Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, during a press conference for the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee at BEXCO in Busan, Monday. Yonhap
- Published Jul 20, 2026 4:40 PM KST
- Updated Jul 20, 2026 4:53 PM KST
Agreement calls for responsible use of digital technologies in heritage management
BUSAN — As armed conflict and climate change threaten heritage sites around the globe, government officials and experts participating in the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Busan adopted a new declaration calling for international collaboration to shield vulnerable cultural and natural assets from damage.
The agreement — dubbed the Busan Declaration on World Heritage — also encouraged transparent and responsible use of digital technologies in identifying, recording and preserving heritage.
The participants passed the declaration by consensus during the opening business session of the committee’s 48th meeting, hosted by Korea in the southeastern port city of Busan.
It marks the first time Korea has hosted the meeting since joining the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1988.
The core of the declaration officially elevates “collaboration” as the new “sixth C” of the strategic objectives of its heritage framework. The new pillar integrates global cooperation as a key guiding principle alongside the previous “Five Cs”: conservation, credibility, capacity-building, communication and communities.
“The modern context of multiple and growing interconnected global challenges presents complex issues that the existing five strategic objectives, when pursued in isolation, are not sufficient to address,” the declaration states, underscoring a collective shift away from top-down, isolated national efforts.
Lee Byong-hyun, chairperson of the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, speaks after adopting the Busan Declaration on World Heritage during the plenary session of the UNESCO convention at BEXCO in Busan, Monday. Courtesy of Korea Heritage Service
Spearheaded by Korea Heritage Service (KHS) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the declaration was finalized after months of intense negotiations involving the 21 member nations of the committee and UNESCO’s three official advisory bodies: the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Huh Min, administrator of the KHS, hailed the Busan Declaration as “the core achievement of this World Heritage Committee session and a milestone for the future” of the UNESCO 1972 World Heritage Convention.
“In this declaration the committee adds a sixth strategic objective strengthening the implementation of the convention through collaboration,” Huh said during a press conference after adopting the declaration at BEXCO in Busan, Monday. “The Korean government plans to work closely with the state parties, advisory bodies and the World Heritage Centre to ensure that the agenda does not remain merely a declaration but leads to concrete projects.”
Crucially, the Busan Declaration broke new ground as the first major global heritage accord to formally confront the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital replication technologies.
The declaration demands “transparent, responsible and accountable digital practices” to support prevention, emergency response, recovery, long-term conservation and knowledge-sharing across generations. It also calls for due attention to accuracy, context, inclusivity, equitable access and respect for international law in using the technologies.
Furthermore, the document mandates a push for “inclusive interpretation.” Under the new guidelines, site managers must actively involve local communities and marginalized voices to craft historical narratives, steering away from strictly government-sanctioned perspectives.
Nayef Al-Fayez, UNESCO assistant director-general for culture, also highlighted the importance of collaboration. “When heritage is damaged or destroyed, the loss extends far beyond the physical fabric of a monument, a landscape or a place of worship. Heritage embodies memory, identity, knowledge and traditions. It connects people to their past and helps communities navigate the future.”
Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, called it a “historic session” in the history of the World Heritage Committee because of the large number of representatives participating in the convention. “The message of the committee is that we must not stop protecting our heritage; on the contrary, we must reinforce it. To effectively support this work, we need to strengthen our collaboration, and I believe that message is quite strong,” he said.
To ensure the framework translates into immediate action, Korea announced 12 concrete follow-up initiatives including the establishment of a regular international forum in partnership with Busan Metropolitan City. These projects will focus on cross-border disaster response, local manager training and the standardization of digital heritage data.
The 48th session of the committee runs through July 29. Delegates are scheduled to review the conservation status of hundreds of endangered properties and vote on new inscriptions to the global World Heritage List.
