Sunday, 27 September 2026
Arrival of delegates
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| All day | Arrival and registration of delegates |
| Afternoon | Optional city tours |
Monday, 28 September 2026
Authenticity in a Changing World
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 10:00 | Official opening: Government of Viet Nam, UNESCO and institutional partners |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Keynote address: Thirty years after Nara — why must the application of authenticity be reconsidered? |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee break |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Framing plenary: From Nara to Nairobi — developments in heritage studies and the World Heritage system |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Session 1: Authenticity under climate change, conflict, disaster, displacement, urbanization and tourism |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee break |
| 15:30 – 17:00 | Session 2: Authenticity, integrity and Outstanding Universal Value — clarifying the relationships and evidentiary requirements |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Day 1 synthesis: Issues requiring testing through Asia-Pacific cases |
| 18:00 – 20:00 | Welcome dinner hosted by the Chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee |
Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Testing Authenticity through Asia-Pacific Cases
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 12:30 | Optional visit tour at Thang Long Citadel World Heritage site |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Parallel case laboratories
|
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee break |
| 15:30 – 16:45 | Parallel case laboratories
|
| 16:45 – 17:30 | Comparative synthesis: What do the cases confirm, challenge or add to existing World Heritage practice? |
Wednesday, 30 September 2026
From Evidence to World Heritage Practice
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 10:15 | Parallel working groups
|
| 10:15 – 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:30 – 12:30 |
|
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| From 13:30 | Transfer to Ninh Binh for the technical field visit |
Field visit in Ninh Binh
Theme 1
Examine how changes since the 1994 Nara Document — including climate change, disasters, armed conflict, displacement, urbanization, tourism, digital technology and evolving heritage practices — affect the ways in which authenticity is understood, assessed and safeguarded. The session will identify where current World Heritage approaches remain adequate and where further methodological guidance is required.
Theme 2
Assess how reconstruction, periodic renewal, repair and adaptation can sustain or undermine heritage values following conflict, disaster, environmental change or development pressure. Attention will be given to documentary and oral evidence, traditional knowledge and skills, community consent, continuity of function, and the limits of acceptable reconstruction. The session will propose principles for distinguishing culturally meaningful renewal from conjectural or value-eroding reconstruction.
Theme 3
Examine how authenticity is conveyed through ritual, belief, memory, language, use, traditional knowledge, social relationships and connections between people, place and nature, particularly where heritage significance is not primarily expressed through physical fabric. The session will develop practical approaches for identifying and documenting tangible and intangible attributes without freezing living heritage or separating practices from the places and communities that sustain them.
Theme 4
Examine how local communities, practitioners, elders, women, youth and other knowledge holders participate in defining, transmitting and safeguarding heritage values. The discussion will also address differences between and between communities, competing claims, displacement, restricted or sacred knowledge, consent, and the relationship between community knowledge and scientific evidence. The session will recommend principles for meaningful participation and credible evidence in authenticity assessments.
Theme 5
Test how the conference findings can be applied to heritage identification, national inventories, Tentative Lists, Preliminary Assessments, nomination dossiers, evaluation, management, monitoring, training, and national legal and policy frameworks. Selected Asia-Pacific cases will be used to develop an operational authenticity-assessment framework and recommendations contributing to a more representative, balanced and credible World Heritage List. The session will clearly distinguish authenticity from — while explaining its relationship with — Outstanding Universal Value, integrity, protection and management requirements.
The 2025 Nairobi Outcome Document on Heritage and Authenticity is directly relevant to the proposed Asia-Pacific Dialogue because it calls for a broader, more inclusive understanding of authenticity within the World Heritage Convention. Although developed through an African dialogue, its principles are useful for other regions with living heritage systems, community custodianship, spiritual associations, traditional knowledge, evolving cultural practices and complex relationships between tangible and intangible attributes.
Authenticity should not be treated as a fixed or purely material test; it should be understood in relation to cultural context, knowledge systems, continuity, use, memory and meaning.
Local communities, knowledge holders and bearers should be actively involved in defining, explaining and safeguarding the values that make a place authentic.
Conservation practice should address physical fabric alongside practices, beliefs, oral traditions, skills, rituals, language, social values and associations.
The Nairobi Outcome Document points to the relevance of authenticity in nomination dossiers, evaluation, management, monitoring, training, and legal or policy frameworks.
The World Heritage Committee has encouraged similar expert dialogues in other regions, making an Asia-Pacific conference timely and strategically aligned.
The conference should therefore aim not only to discuss authenticity, but to produce practical recommendations, outcomes and training priorities, case-study guidance and inputs that could inform future regional and global reflection.
