Jamaica to Commemorate World Heritage Day on April 18

Jamaica and other nations across the globe will join the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in commemorating Monday, April 18 as World Heritage Day.

Several activities have been planned by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport to mark the day under the theme: ‘The Heritage of Sport’.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, is slated to unveil two of the three signs being erected at the entrances to the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and World Heritage Site.

The unveiling ceremony is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. at the Papine Square in St Andrew.

The other sign, to be erected at the Port Antonio gateway in Portland, will be unveiled at a later date.

The Ministry will also host a symposium at the University of Technology (UTech) under the theme: ‘Sport for National Development’, beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Principal Director of Culture in the Ministry’s Creative Industries Policy Division, Dr. Janice Lindsay, told JIS that the World Heritage concept is relatively new to Jamaica.

As such, the signs are being erected as part of the Ministry’s undertaking to heighten public awareness, and encourage persons to visit the Site.

While noting that the country was virtually unknown within the world heritage arena a few years ago, she said “Jamaica is now actively participating.”

“We serve on the World Heritage Committee (comprising) 21 (countries),” Dr. Lindsay informed, pointing out that Jamaica’s tenure will conclude in 2017.

World Heritage Day was developed by UNESCO as the international day for acknowledging monuments and sites.

It aims to raise public awareness about heritage sites and the efforts required to safeguard and preserve them.

Jamaica’s Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in July 2015.

It is one of only 32 “mixed’ World Heritage Sites, and the first such in the Caribbean.