| Contact:
press@globalheritagefund.org
or (650) 325 7520
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GLOBAL HERITAGE
FUND AND ASIA SOCIETY BRING TOGETHER
LEADING CONSERVATIONISTS AND INTERNATIONAL DIGNITARIES
AT
“SAVING ASIA’S TREASURES” SHOWCASING
CONSERVATION OF
ENDANGERED WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN ASIA
Keynote
Addresses by the Director of UNESCO World Heritage
Asia Pacific and His
Royal Highness, the Maharaja of Jodhpur
Six
Global Conservation Awards
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Roof decay
- Foguang Monestary, China |
Palo Alto, CA (May 11th, 2004)
-- Global Heritage Fund (GHF), the leading international
conservancy preserving endangered cultural heritage
sites in developing countries, and The Asia Society
of Northern California will jointly host over 400
philanthropists, as well as foundation and business
leaders from around the world to address conservation
efforts to save the last remaining endangered cultural
world heritage sites in Asia.
Saving Asia’s Treasures will
be held at the Chong-Moon Lee Asian Art Museum of
San Francisco on Wednesday, May 19. Invited attendees
will learn about the progress being made in conservation,
and how people in the San Francisco and the United
States can make a direct impact to save these treasures
of humankind while providing economic opportunities
for the developing world.
Event presenters will spotlight the
advancements being made by GHF and its partners to
protect 10 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Asia. These
include Foguang Monestary, the oldest wooden building
in China Tang Dynasty (9th century); Hampi Vijayanagara
Kingdom site in Karnataka (14th-16th century), India;
and My Son Sanctuary of the Champa Kingdom (BC300
– 12th century AD), the only remaining major
archaeological site
in Vietnam.
The GHF Advisory Board has selected
approximately 50 world heritage sites in China, India,
Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Nepal,
Burma and Bhutan that are at risk – many in
serious risk- of being lost due to neglect, uncontrolled
development and outright destruction. GHF is at the
forefront of securing permanent protection for a select
few of these magnificent treasures.
“Today we have the experience
and understanding to reverse the devastation of these
sites, create new opportunities for developing countries
to become financially stable, and keep these 50 important
treasures from humankind’s past in our future,”
said Jeff Morgan, Executive Director of the GHF. “At
current rates of destruction, there are at least two
major sites lost each year. Bam, Bamiyan, Bantaey
Chmar and others were lost in just the first three
years of this century. We can’t afford to lose
one more.”
After GHF’s founding in 2001,
Draper Richards Foundation awarded the Global Heritage
Fund its coveted Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship,
a three-year Fellowship which has enabled GHF to rapidly
expand its innovative ‘Adopt-A-Site program
matching U.S. donors with world-class conservation
projects at endangered ancient world heritage sites
in Asia, the Middle East, South and Central America
and Africa humankind’s Cradles
of Civilization.
“GHF has developed into a major
force in cultural heritage preservation since we made
our early Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship two
years ago,” said Bill Draper, venture capitalist,
international philanthropist, former UNDP Administrator
and President of the Import-Export Bank. “GHF’s
conservation leadership offers a great opportunity
for developing countries to create a sustainable future
for their people, save their own heritage and share
these amazing Cradles of Civilization with the world.”
At the very heart of GHF’s conservation
efforts are the organization’s Leaders in Conservation,
the Advisory Board, and Trustees for Global Heritage,
a distinguished network of philanthropists committed
to rebuilding and protecting these one-of-a-kind archaeological
sites and ancient buildings. GHF will recognize six
leaders by presenting the conservancy’s first
Global Conservation Awards at the event.
Keynote addresses will include the
Director of UNESCO World Heritage Asia Pacific Dr.
Richard Engelhardt and His Royal Highness the Maharaja
of Jodhpur. Global Heritage Fund will present Global
Conservation Awards to Rand Castile, Director Emeritus
of the Asian Art Museum and Global Heritage Fund Advisor;
Bill Draper, former UNDP Administrator and GHF Trustee;
Dr. Richard Engelhardt and Rose Nui, Director of The
Nature Conservancy.
GHF works closely with leading international
foundations, travel companies, associations, business
leaders and governments to help developing countries
without conservation resources and expertise to protect
their UNESCO World Heritage sites. Together with GHF,
these partners play a key role in harnessing the economic
power of
cultural tourism and sustainable economic development
in Asia, E. Europe, Turkey and Central Asia, Central
and South America and the Middle East.
Saving Asia’s Treasures-
GHF Projects and 2004 Nominations
China
Foguang Temple, Shanxi (900AD)
Lijiang
Ancient Town, Yunnan (1000AD)
Laos
Wat Phu Khmer Temples (1200AD)
Vietnam
My
Son Sanctuary (BC300)
Cambodia
Phnom Penh Ceramics Conservation Lab (BC2000)
India
Hampi
Vijayanagara Kingdom, Karnataka (1400AD)
Lothal Indus Valley, Gujarat (BC4000)
Konark
Sun Temple, Orissa (1200AD)
Pakistan
Asif
Khan / Jahangir Complex, Lahore (1400AD)
Turkey
Kars Heritage, Eastern Frontier (800AD)
About Global Heritage Fund
Global Heritage Fund is the leading international
conservancy preserving endangered world heritage sites
in developing countries. The conservancy’s goal
is to enable successful, long-term preservation of
humankind’s most important archaeological sites
and ancient townscapes, creating new opportunities
for economic growth. The role of the Global Heritage
Fund is to develop comprehensive Master Conservation
Plans, provide early matching grants and training,
build local institutions and promote sustainable tourism
development to further permanent protection for global
cultural treasures. Global Heritage Fund is a registered
non-profit international conservancy based in Palo
Alto, California.
About Asia Society of Northern
California
The Asia Society seeks to promote Americans’
understanding of Asia and Asian American issues through
increased dialogue and exposure to the people, cultures
and systems of the Asia Pacific region. Founded in
1956 and headquartered in New York, the Asia Society
has nine offices around the globe. Drawing on its
strength as one of the nation’s pre-eminent
educational and networking links between Americans
and Asians, the Society strives to offer fresh perspectives
on the forces and issues that are shaping Asia’s
relations with California, the United States and the
rest of the world.
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