The Loire Valley World Heritage site: let's talk about it! #1

Normandy Encounters for Remembrance Tourism - 16 March in Caen

Rémi Deleplancque, Cultural Mediation & Engineering Policy Officer, addressed the "Normandy Encounters for Remembrance Tourism" on 16 March in Caen. This event is part of the Normandy Region's and State's campaign to have "the D-Day Landing beaches, Normandy, 1944" added to the World Heritage List. His presentation delved into the challenges and impacts of a listing for the tourism sector. It provided an opportunity to go back over the initial repercussions of the Loire Valley's listing and the context at the time, to present the networking methods and actions of the stakeholders in keeping with the management plan and to highlight the work conducted with the Loire Châteaux network. 

http://www.liberte-normandie.com/index.php/fr/actualites/108-patrimoine-mondial-et-tourisme-au-programme-des-rencontres-normandes-du-tourisme-de-memoire  

Great Rivers of the World Biennial - 7 April in Saumur

Rémi Deleplancque spoke about heritage showcasing in the context of the Unesco listing. He began by giving a reminder of the reasons why the Loire Valley was added to the World Heritage List, the context at the time and the initial reactions. He then talked about the consequences and new opportunities presented by the notion of cultural landscape for heritage showcasing initiatives. These initiatives come in an array of forms spanning cultural advocacy and the promotion of heritage for tourism purposes, and involve a wide range of stakeholders. The setup then roll-out of the site's management plan, some ten years after the initial listing, is strengthening ties between stakeholders and enhancing partnership methods. Most of the policies, operations and development plans bearing particularly on cultural tourism and heritage showcasing today now take on board the consequences of the listing and the potential to be harnessed in this regard. 

https://www.loire-odyssee.fr/biennale/biennale-des-grands-fleuves-du-monde/  

From farm to fork: bestowing heritage status on food - 25 & 26 April in Tours

Myriam Laidet, Heritage & Local Action Policy Officer, addressed the 7th Eurosul international symposium at Villa Rabelais on the subject of food gaining heritage status. She talked about what makes the Loire Valley wine region unique in heritage terms and the conditions for protecting and enhancing it in light of the Unesco listing. Bestowing heritage status on these lands is a decisive argument for the international promotion and recognition of their time-honoured qualities. The Loire Valley World Heritage Management Plan is supporting this process by advancing the creation of protected farming areas and cultural promotion of wine tourism, not least in the context of the Vitour network which brings together the European vineyards that feature on the Unesco World Heritage List. 

https://intelligencedespatrimoines.fr/7e-colloque-international-eurosul-de-la-graine-a-lassiette-la-patrimonialisation-de-lalimentation-25-26-avril-2018/  

International study day on Unesco World Heritage - 17 May at Nancy

Isabelle Longuet, Director of Mission Val de Loire, and Laura Verdelli, Lecturer of Urban & Spatial Planning at Tours University, spoke together during a study day on Unesco World Heritage organised by Nancy School of Architecture. Their presentation compared the processes for drafting, approving and overseeing the management plans for the Mining Basin and Loire Valley, which are both cultural landscapes on the World Heritage List. Their aim was to share the feedback from the sites' users and decision-makers, via their cooperation and the impact of the different awareness and participation actions carried out. The highlight of their presentation centred on the schemes and initiatives being taken by the two agencies tasked with managing the sites so as to incorporate the Values of the listing in the local areas' strategic planning tools. Such incorporation is considered to be a necessary (if perhaps not sufficient) driver for the OUV to become an "obvious feature" and for their development stages to become a powerful communications and advocacy tool. 

http://www.nancy.archi.fr/fr/lhac-unesco.html  

The Loire in all its states - 22 May in Tours

On 22 May, Rémi Deleplancque took part in the Conference-Debate "The Loire in all its states", organised by the Society for the Study, Protection and Development of Nature in Touraine (SEPANT) and the "Heritage Intelligence" Ambition Research Development (ARD) programme. He addressed the first roundtable session, which looked at the theme "The Loire, how it is perceived and portrayed". 

https://intelligencedespatrimoines.fr/la-loire-dans-tous-ses-etats/  

"Plan Loire Grandeur Nature" stakeholder forum - 25 May in Orléans

Rosalie Durlent, Secretary-General, and Vianney Barbin, Digital & Network Coordination Policy Officer, were invited to come and speak at the "Plan Loire Grandeur Nature" stakeholder forum about Mission Val de Loire's resource portal which was launched at the end of 2016, in terms of both its innovative design (jointly developed with several Loire Valley stakeholders) and the way it works and its content. 

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