We must also draw inspiration from the living cultures of the present. The cultural heritage of Africa is both past and present. So far, its value and specificity are still insufficiently recognized.
Proper recognition can only emerge from better understanding and identification.
It aims to reveal the richness, the diversity, and the fragility of this great heritage and thereby encourage us all to preserve and enhance it. It should also contribute to improving the representation of African cultural heritage on the World Heritage List. The World Heritage List is notably unbalanced. Africa, with only 17 cultural or mixed sites recognized, hardly figures on it. In 1994, the World Heritage Committee adopted a global strategy over several years to make the list more balanced by identifying the kinds of treasures ignored so far and encouraging their inclusion on it.