Address by Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland, at the 25th session of the World Heritage Committee opening session in Helsinki on the 11 December 2001

Heritage comprises of all the manifestations and messages of intellectual activity in our environment. Heritage mirrors a nation's soul and reflects personal identity in a chain from past to future generations.

In terms of heritage, be it cultural or natural, sustainable development will remain mere rhetoric without an operational content. It is essential to build sustainable development on sustainable ethics. We can ask ourselves whether our ethics is on a sound basis and do we truly cherish our intellectual, cultural and natural heritage, passing its message on to future generations?

Ten years ago the Conference on Environment and Development in Rio raised sustainable development as a central concept both in international cooperation and in national action. Every country bears the primary responsibility for sustainable development as well as for cultural and natural heritage. When the ethical norms in the management of cultural and natural heritage rest on a sound basis, sustainable development can be promoted in various ways.

In ecologically sustainable development, economic growth must be accommodated to the limits imposed by nature. This is a great challenge for political decision-making and technologies. International conventions and other common commitments increase our possibilities to foster our common heritage - fostering world heritage is an element of sustainable development.

Socially just development means an aspiration to distribute welfare equitably. All people have the right to satisfy their basic needs. To achieve this goal, we must combat poverty and exclusion. For this work, education offers a vast range of possibilities. We have made a strong political commitment to education by adopting the Dakar Framework on "Education for All". This framework is an important step in achieving the goals of the Millennium Declaration to guarantee equal education for every boy and girl in this world. This challenge is particularly great concerning girls.

At the same time we must help also illiterate adults learn to read and write. Illiteracy hampers inter alia people's participation in common affairs and construction of the society. Thus illiteracy weakens democracy.

One fundamental characteristic of intellectual and creative heritage is that sharing does not decrease it, on the contrary. It is society's responsibility to create possibilities for such sharing. Education and culture are both essential tools for this.
Let us look at heritage from the perspective of children and young people.

In children and young people, we have the key to a future society where cultural tolerance and respect for difference shall come true. Family primarily transmits traditions, but school also has a great responsibility for passing on heritage in all its forms. School lays the foundation for an appreciation of culture and for tolerance. We must encourage networking and co-operation between schools and we have to promote dialogue between cultures at all levels. There is a need for UNESCO to support its member states in developing values education. This is education for peace, human rights and democracy - in other words, education for the prevention of intolerance, discrimination and conflict. In this respect I see great potential in the world heritage education project initiated by UNESCO. This project deserves our strong support.

Minorities are often left out from power centres. The position of minorities is essential in the preservation of indigenous cultures. By working together we can remove obstacles and ensure minorities the right to their own culture. Responsibility for nature and its diversity, for the living environment and cultural heritage cannot be conceded to others, it rests with everybody. I am pleased to note that this meeting will deliberate the establishment of a World Heritage Indigenous Peoples Council of Experts. There is a close link between this Council and the Indigenous Peoples Forum established by the United Nations.

One paradox in the preservation of heritage is that we must conserve in order to renew. The vitality of culture is born out of diversity - in a society that gives peace, welfare and culture a chance.

The challenge facing the world is to reach across cultures, religions and history to forge a new vision for development that rests on a shared interest in sustainability, stability and prosperity. Such a vision offers the prospect of a more human, inclusive globalisation - one that embraces cultural diversity.

I welcome therefore the decision of UNESCO's General Conference to focus the Organisation's cultural programme on diversity, intercultural pluralism and dialogue. Let us hope that the Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by the General Conference, will mark the take-off towards greater respect for the diversity of cultures, tolerance, dialogue and co-operation. The declaration is an important input to the observation of the International Year of Dialogue among Civilisations. Civilisations or cultures are changing, developing and adapting themselves to new times and new realities through interaction with each other. This interaction creates multiethnic and multicultural societies, rich and diverse in their heritage.

Preserving heritage obviously means preserving its diversity. The current international context prompts us to sharpen our focus on this dialogue. Preservation of cultural diversity is inseparable from action to strengthen intercultural dialogue. Both are at the heart of mutual understanding.

The UN General Assembly has declared the year 2002 as United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. This not only shows how highly we value our common heritage, but also underlines the need for safeguarding it for future generations. UNESCO, having a central role in this effort, faces compelling challenges in fulfilling this mission.

We have to keep in mind that the world heritage is about more than monuments and natural wonders. The intangible ideas and beliefs that constitute our collective memory must never be neglected.

Let me give a positive example from my own country. Finland gained her independence 84 years ago, we fought a civil war and we have had to fight three wars against foreign enemies. Still we have reached a high standard of living and in a recent OECD-study Finnish students scored highest marks in exams of reading and writing. In fact when comparing the national averages among OECD countries, Finland is above the average in reading, mathematics and natural sciences. We can thank our comprehensive education for the advancement in building a knowledge based society in Finland. By giving also girls equal possibility for education at all levels we have at least doubled our resources.

Let me conclude with a quotation from the Declaration on Cultural Diversity: "Heritage in all its forms must be preserved, enhanced and handed on to future generations as a record of human experience and aspirations, so as to foster creativity in all its diversity and to inspire genuine dialogue among cultures".

I wish the World Heritage Committee the best of success in its important work.