LISA Hanna is unlikely ever to forget July 3, 2015, the day Jamaica’s Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park was inscribed on the prestigious World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany.

Hanna, then the portfolio minister of youth and culture and her small but enthusiastic team, experienced goose pimples when the UNESCO Committee, at its 39th session, voted to make the scenic Jamaican location one of only 32 ‘mixed’ World Heritage Sites, and the first in the Caribbean.

The team had worked feverishly on Jamaica’s impressive dossier and it was left to Hanna to deliver it in an equally impressive way. After her presentation, which those who were there described as powerful, the committee had no difficulty coming to its decision.

On a day like today, as Jamaica joins the global community in marking World Heritage Day, Hanna, now Opposition spokesperson on culture, reflects on the journey to Bonn 2015 and the successes of this tiny speck on the world map that culminated in the historic unveiling on October 30, 2015 in Maroon country, Moore Town, Portland.

“It was a mission that was started with the successful lobby and Jamaica’s election to a seat on the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO in 2013,” she recalls. “…World Heritage inscription is the global endorsement of the outstanding universal value that our country offers.

“Being able to capture a resounding ‘yes’ from all committee members at UNESCO was overwhelming, and signalled to the world Jamaica’s technical competence in the areas of cultural studies and heritage preservation,” Hanna said, unable to mask her maternal pride.

Completion of the comprehensive dossier that outlined the ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ of the cultural and natural property of the Blue and John Crow Mountains to get them to that point was not an easy task, she admitted.

“It took months of preparation. Furthermore, we had to prove why this site deserved protection for the benefit of all humanity for generations to come,” said the former Miss World.

The Blue and John Crow Mountains joined the list of iconic sites such as the Great Wall of China, The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt , The Taj Mahal of India, the Acropolis of Athens and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

“On the heels of the first anniversary for the first inscription as a World Heritage Site and the first mixed site for the Caribbean sub-region, we remain proud of Jamaica’s rich and diverse cultural heritage and the need for more sites,” Hanna said.

She underscored the multidisciplinary approach that was taken to position Jamaica’s culture to the world and implored the new Government not to abandon the approach or disregard the firm technical work and research that should continue.

“We were able to establish technical, heritage and economic personnel positions within the Culture Division of the Ministry, tasked with coordinating the submission of reports to UNESCO, policy initiatives and partnership with the other ministries including land, mining, education and tourism,” the former minister disclosed.

She said that growing Jamaica’s economy by adding value to the world with Jamaica’s rich culture was a policy decision taken by the previous Administration and to that end, several initiatives were developed and implemented including the Cultural Commission established by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

In support of World Heritage Day, Hanna is urging young Jamaicans to be aware of the Cultural Passport Programme under the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, which was established “so that they can now access key cultural and heritage sites across Jamaica free of cost”.

She stressed the need to continue the education and awareness campaign to promote Jamaica’s heritage sites which was launched in Heritage Week last year to help youth and schoolchildren understand the value of preserving, not only the Blue and John Crow Mountains, but all heritage and cultural sites across the island.

“The inscription should seal our unwavering commitment to protect the Blue and John Crow Mountains for all Jamaicans and the world. I call on Minister Olivia Grange and her Administration to pledge its support for UNESCO and ensure that they strengthen and deepen the culture value chain for the country and submit the reports on time.”

To mark the importance of World Heritage Day, Hanna is also encouraging Jamaicans to visit, at their own convenience, the country’s first World Heritage Site — the Blue and John Crow Mountains — and other heritage sites, cultural spaces and museums.

— Desmond Allen