DOLOMITES-UNESCO: REGIONS AND PROVINCES PLAN FOUNDATION
SEVILLE - The future Dolomiti - Dolomiten - Dolomites - Dolomitis UNESCO Foundation will be set up as an inter-institutional body to coordinate and manage conservation and development policies for the Dolomites World Heritage values. The Dolomites have joined the world's other cultural and natural wonders on the World Heritage List. The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) unanimously approved Italy's bid for the Dolomites to be named a World Heritage natural site during its meeting on June 26, 2009 in Seville, Spain.
Mauro Gilmozzi, urban planning councillor for the autonomous province of Trento, arriving in Seville immediately after the verdict, outlined the next steps. ''We have eighteen months to implement the commitments that have been made, in particular the foundation must start working and draw up a management plan for the various areas. The general management plan already exists but now we have to break it down relative to the various territories and to show that the nomination of the Dolomites is no longer just and idea but a concrete fact'', said Gilmozzi. In practice, Gilmozzi proposes setting up a network of headquarters for the foundation that would move from region to region and province to province based on the which entity held the duty presidency. Gilmozzi is considering the same structural formula for the foundation itself and proposes creating a network of observers, museums, and scientific research and training centres.
The nine Dolomite mountain groups included in the World Heritage Site span 142,000 hectares and have been given 85 hectares of border areas for a total of 231,000 hectares. The mountains are in three of Italy's northern regions - Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Veneto - and spread over five provinces: Trento, Bolzano, Belluno, Pordenone and Udine.
