ICOMOS – IFLA Principles Concerning Rural Landscapes as Heritage – Delhi 2017

Rural landscapes are a vital component of the heritage of humanity that contain a complex lattice of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and have a strong connection with their surrounding nature and environment. As a result, they can be named the rural landscapes. Since the living rural landscapes are one of the most common types of cultural landscapes in existence, their conservation is of special importance. Identifying the various dimensions and values of these landscapes can help the betterment of understanding of the adaptation of people to their land and production methods based on the cultural and natural foundations. At a time that we are facing serious challenges in terms of weakening of the cultures, and destruction and exploitation of the natural resources, and the problems of clean water, air, food and healthy products are being raised in scientific communities as serious challenges of the future, it is important to focus on living rural landscapes to upgrade and understand them. Effective support and principled safeguarding of these landscapes and sustainable changes, using the experience at hand and their appropriate transmission to future generations also becomes doubly important. That way, an appropriate balance could be struck between various economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects. As a result, the present document was produced and adopted by ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes in the symposium held as part of the 19th ICOMOS General Assembly in New Delhi in 2019. This document tries to raise awareness on various production methods, via agriculture, animal husbandry and pastoralism, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, wild food gathering, hunting, and extraction of other resources, which are necessary for sustaining human life and to highlight the ever increasing interaction between human and nature which encompasses the technical, scientific and experience based human knowledge. While treating the definitions and necessities in tending to the living rural landscapes, this document explains the threats and challenges that exist in today’s world for rural landscapes which result in their loss and/or abandonment or radical change. Also, the benefits of these landscapes as natural and cultural resources essential for life to be transmitted for future generations is considered. The necessity of sustainable conservation of these landscapes are also treated. This document considers the identification of values and transmission of the accumulated knowledge and cultural meanings to the future generations as the condition for sustainable preservation of these landscapes. Finally some criteria are suggested to achieve this sustainability.