The multinational campaign to include the Silk Road into the World Heritage list has entered the final countdown, with officials and experts sanguine about its success.

    Jointly submitted by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the application for adding part of the millennium-old trade route into the UNESCO list will be finalized by a vote in June, when the World Heritage Committee convenes its 38th session in Doha.

    Tong Mingkang, deputy director of China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage, was optimistic about the result, as the route had won its recommendation from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which serves as an important reference during the vote.

    “We’re now emphasizing conservation and management of the relics and solving some technical problems,” Tong told Xinhua on Friday during a seminar on the protection of Silk Road cultural heritages held in Xi’an City in northwestern China.

    As it is the first time China has cooperated with foreign countries for a World Heritage nomination (also the case for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), Tong described the Silk Road project as “very difficult,” as the nominated heritages are often in different protection states, face different threats and are of different natures.

    The application consists of 33 historical sites along the route, including 22 in China, eight in Kazakhstan and three in Kyrgyzstan. They range from palaces and pagoda sites in cities to ruins in remote, inaccessible deserts.

    Once treaded by camel-driving merchants carrying silk, porcelain and spices, the roughly 2,000-year-old Silk Road was an important corridor for trade and cultural exchanges between Asia and Europe. It fell into disuse in the age of sailing in the 16th century.

    The route once again came into the global spotlight after China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 2011 formally launched a project to apply for adding “Silk Roads: Initial Section of the Silk Roads, the Routes Network of Tianshan Corridor” onto the World Heritage list.

    An Jiayao, an archaeologist with the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the nomination process has ushered in better protection for the relics, some of which remained in oblivion or in a poor state of repair in the past.

    In an evaluation report filed with the World Heritage Committee, the ICOMOS recognized the outstanding value of the Silk Road, saying it “contributed to the development of many of the world’s great civilizations” and it “represents one of the world’s preeminent long-distance communication networks.”

    Still, experts with the ICOMOS expressed concerns about the threats facing the Silk Road relics, including urbanization, expanding roads and railways, and surging tourist numbers.

    “In some places, there should be limits on the number of tourists to prevent damage to the ruins, while some others lack roads, facilities and management to receive visitors,” said Rii Hae-un, executive committee member of the ICOMOS.

    If the Silk Road is enlisted, it will only be “a starting point,” Rii said, urging the three countries to continue to work closely and address the insufficient protection problems at some nominated sites.

    “From the beginning, the World Heritage list was created for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage,” Rii said, warning against neglecting conservation and management after inscription. Reports of such cases had prompted the committee to attach more weight to this regard during nomination and keep a close watch after inscription, Rii said.

    (Xinhua)