RURITAGE workshops for Latin America and the Caribbean UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and UNESCO Global Geoparks.

A great deal of Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries face challenges similar to those that the RURITAGE community has been addressing. With that in mind, our project’s innovative methodology was presented to managers and officers of UNESCO designated sites in that region.

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) cover around 3.5 million square kilometres, are home to more than 100 million people. They are also characterised by an immense natural and cultural diversity sharing the region’s main challenges, which, as highlighted by UNDP in its Regional Human Development Report 2021 “Trapped: High Inequality and Low Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean”, include high social and economic inequality, rural-urban migration and rural depopulation, lack of income diversification, rapidly declining biodiversity, geological hazards and the impacts of climate change.

With that in mind, two workshops were held between RURITAGE project and managers/focal points of UNESCO designated sites. These online workshops counted with an audience from 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries and aimed at presenting RURITAGE’s methodology go of rural regeneration through cultural and natural heritage.

In addition, there was an exchange on the challenges of rural regeneration in UNESCO designated sites in the current context and how RURITAGE methodology and tools could contribute.

"RURITAGE will undoubtedly be a very important complement and guide to continue strengthening [sustainable development and ecotourism projects in the geopark]".

– Eugenio Bidondo, General Coordinator of the UNESCO Global Geopark Grutas de Palacio del Uruguay and of the Geoparks Network of Latin America and the Caribbean

Further collaboration between RURITAGE and UNESCO sites in LAC have the potential to improve the region’s resilience if the methodology is adapted to the particular context of the region with especial emphasis on incorporating protocols that safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ rights and in testing the project’s online tools such as the Resource Ecosystem to ensure its ease of use in situations of limited access to the internet.

Nevertheless, it became evident that the LAC region is investing in the promotion of a green, inclusive and local economy that revitalises local communities and generates benefits for people and nature. Cultural and natural heritage plays a central role in this sustainable development process, contributing to the restoration of community identity, the inclusion of traditional knowledge, the conservation of biodiversity and geo-diversity.

Learn more about the state of play of rural regeneration in Latin America and the Caribbean through UNESCO Sites: