Dr Francesca Giliberto featured on the BBC World Services’ “Business Daily”
Dr Francesca Giliberto, a Research Fellow in the Management and Organisations Department, recently contributed to an episode of Business Daily.
The episode - "The Cost of Preserving Our Heritage" - hosted on the BBC World Service, explored how developers in the Global North are legally obligated to fund archaeological work before construction, while heritage preservation in the Global South often depends on tourism. The episode delved into the challenges of over-tourism at World Heritage sites, questioning whether the UNESCO World Heritage List is inadvertently causing harm to the very locations it seeks to protect.
Dr Giliberto played a key role in the episode by discussing the evolving concept of cultural heritage. She emphasised how Western countries traditionally define heritage in terms of monuments and architecture, while in other parts of the world, heritage is often a seamless blend of culture and nature.
Dr Giliberto highlighted the importance of "cultural landscapes," where human activity and natural environments are interlinked. As an example, she pointed to the rice terraces in the Philippines, which represent a dynamic, living landscape that continues to be shaped by the local community. This approach to heritage preservation, according to Giliberto, offers a more sustainable model, focused on maintaining traditional practices rather than relying solely on tourism for survival.
Dr Giliberto is the Principal Investigator on the Advancing Cultural Heritage Governance for Resilient Climate Adaptation (AGREE) project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council - UK; Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MUR) - Italy; and Research Council of Norway - Norway.
