Participatory Monitoring in Cultural Heritage Conservation: Case Study: The Landscape zone of the Bisotun World Heritage Site

Abstract

Community participation in cultural heritage conservation has been a concern since the Venice Charter (1964) so far. This approach has also been highlighted in the World Heritage documents. In this case, it is necessary to engage local people in all stages of protection, conservation and management. In addition, the Faro Convention (2005) emphasized that the responsibilities regarding the cultural heritage management must be shared between authorities and civil society to make possible a joint action among different stakeholders. At the site of Bisotun, participatory monitoring means the systematic reporting and recording of the issues regarding the cultural heritage properties provided by people living in the landscape zone in order to achieve sustainable monitoring of cultural heritage properties. In fact, the local people can monitor progress of safeguarding and protecting their heritage by daily observing and reporting relevant issues if any. The main purpose of participatory monitoring in this research is to engage the local community in the monitoring of cultural heritage properties in the Bisotun World Heritage Site.