OPINION: Unesco stamp needs ongoing commitment

THIS  weekend, a committee of specialists from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization inscribed 22 cultural sites on its World Heritage List and, for the time being, dismissed the Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panama in this register of places considered “exceptional universal value”. Panama, one of the 190 countries that have ratified the World Heritage Convention, has five cultural and natural sites on that list of more than a thousand that exist throughout the world. But being there is not just a matter of image or tourist attraction, it requires a series of commitments for the conservation of nature and the preservation of cultural sites. That means, not just a solid institutional framework respected by government after government, but also of public policies that guarantee the endowment of the necessary resources to protect and conserve them. In the same way, permanent campaigns are necessary so that citizens are aware that it is a shared responsibility. After all, we are all Panama. – LA PRENSA, July 8.