NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 94 of 150

Correct — B, Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism. The International Day for Monuments and Sites falls on 18 April every year, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites, ICOMOS, chooses a theme for each observance. For 2017 that theme was sustainable tourism, framed as the relationship between cultural heritage and sustainable tourism. The choice was not accidental — the United Nations had designated 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, so the heritage body aligned its day with the year's larger question of how visitor numbers can support the conservation of monuments instead of wearing them away.

• (a)The Heritage of Sport — Sport has been an ICOMOS theme in a later year, not in 2017. Themes rotate annually and are chosen to catch a current concern, so a theme correct for one year is wrong for every other.
• (c)Past and Present Heritage — This is a plausible-sounding phrase rather than a real theme. It carries no policy content, which is a reliable clue in this kind of question — the actual themes generally name a live issue such as tourism, resilience, disasters or landscapes.
• (d)Heritage and Science — Also invented for this option list. Nothing about it points to the 2017 conservation agenda, whereas sustainable tourism sat at the centre of it that year.

The day was proposed by ICOMOS on 18 April 1982 and approved by the General Conference of UNESCO at its twenty-second session in 1983. ICOMOS is the advisory body that evaluates cultural nominations to the World Heritage List, so it is the natural body to set a theme for the day. The theme is the practical hook for the year's conferences, site visits and open days, which is why examinations like to ask for it.

Anchor the answer to 2017 and treat the theme as a moving target. ICOMOS names a new theme each year — rural landscapes was the theme for 2019, for instance — so a question of this kind is only ever answerable for the year it names. The durable facts here are the date, 18 April, the originating body, ICOMOS, and the year of UNESCO approval, 1983; those are what carry across papers, and they are the parts most often asked.

• The International Day for Monuments and Sites, also called World Heritage Day, is observed on 18 April.
• It was proposed by ICOMOS on 18 April 1982 and approved by the UNESCO General Conference in 1983.
• The 2017 theme was sustainable tourism, stated as cultural heritage and sustainable tourism.
• The United Nations had designated 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
• ICOMOS is the advisory body that evaluates cultural site nominations to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

• Carrying over a theme from another year; the theme changes annually while the date does not.
• Confusing World Heritage Day, 18 April, with other UNESCO observances.
• Assuming UNESCO chooses the theme; ICOMOS does, and UNESCO approved the day itself in 1983.

NDA sets a theme-of-the-day question most years; the safer preparation is to hold the dates and the declaring bodies and to revise only the current year's themes.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The International Day for Monuments and Sites is observed every year on

  • (a)18 April
  • (b)5 June
  • (c)22 May
  • (d)16 September

  Answer(a) 18 April — proposed by ICOMOS in 1982 and approved by UNESCO in 1983.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which body evaluates cultural site nominations to the UNESCO World Heritage List?

  • (a)IUCN
  • (b)ICOMOS
  • (c)UNEP
  • (d)UNDP

  Answer(b) ICOMOS — the International Council on Monuments and Sites; IUCN handles natural sites.