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HIST Governing Board Convened 8th Session in Beijing

Date:2020-02-06

HIST convened the 8th session of its Governing Board on 7 January 2020 in Beijing, China. Mr. Zhuang Yan from International Cooperation Bureau of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) moderated the meeting. In his opening remarks, Mr. Zhuang emphasized that CAS will continue to support the sound development of HIST. 
HIST’s Annual Report of 2019 and Biennial Work Plan for 2020-2021 were discussed and approved by the Governing Board. In 2019, HIST made excellent progress especially in mobilizing CAS resources for HIST activities. It also contributed its efforts to facilitate Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other UNESCO member states to monitor their world heritage sites, which were highly appreciated and have attracted international attention and interest. In the coming biennium, it will continue to strengthen its abilities to apply space technologies in the identification, conservation, management and sustainable development of UNESCO-designated sites. It will also organize a side event and an exhibition during the 44th session of World Heritage Committee, and participate in the 3rd Cycle of Periodic Reporting of World Heritage sites in Asia and the Pacific region.
Progress reports of 4 HIST Bases and DBAR-Heritage Working Group were also presented during the meeting. HIST Board members appreciated the rapid development and active contribution of 4 HIST bases and expressed satisfaction over their progress. It was acknowledged that DBAR also provides a very good platform for HIST to extend its work beyond UNESCO World Heritage sites. 
Thorough discussions were held on collaborative research on UN SDG 11.4 and other relative SDGs. The Board also recommended that HIST explore collaborations with ICOMOS, UNESCO Beijing office, Delft University of Technology and other organizations.
In his concluding remarks, Acad. Prof. Guo Huadong expressed his appreciation to the Board, secretariat and HIST bases for their valuable contributions and excellent suggestions. He expressed hope that HIST will become better and better with their guidance and advice. He said that HIST will rise to the challenge and take full advantage of the growing awareness of governments about the importance of using space information technology in monitoring world heritages. UNESCO need more contributions from HIST and HIST will work hard to meet pressing needs of UNESCO and its member states. 
HIST’s deputy directors, staff members at HIST secretariat, representatives of research teams and HIST’s bases joined the meeting as observers. 

Group Photo of Board Members

Group Photo of Participants