Research & Article

This paper is intended to add a broad international background to the Thailand specific discussion by most of the papers in this 100th issue of the Journal of the Siam Society. The time frame selected alludes to this year’s celebration of four decades since the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the World Heritage Convention.1 Using the same time period for assessing changes in development, we have witnessed unprecedented economic growth  in  Asia  but  also,  albeit  less  visible,  some  remarkable  progress  in  heritage conservation – changing attitudes, growing interest and capability, and some outstanding tangible results - despite continuing conflict between conservation and development. The World Heritage system may be the most visible and prestigious framework of conservation worldwide, but the local and national dimensions are more important for each country and locality where the difficult integration of conservation and development must be achieved – often amounting to the proverbial squaring of a circle. In contrast, there would be hundreds of sites in need of effective protection by national legislation and local management skills. For example, Thailand still has only five sites with World Heritage (WH) status2 but hundreds more significant buildings,  historic  towns,  nature  parks,  and  wetlands,  apart  from  other  largely intangible cultural goods such as dance and music – all of which deserve to be conserved, for different reasons. Many of these vestiges of a rich and lively culture are threatened by modernization and squeezed into a marginal existence, neglected for lack of interest and lack of funding, and, in the growing cities, barely tolerated and often demolished. Even many of the religious and royal monuments that are traditionally better protected by law and more respected by people have been badly neglected by local authorities. Using the established World Heritage system as a framework for orientation, this paper outlines the system’s legal foundation, its elaborate procedures, and the broadening of conservation issues. It will then move on to the shifts and developments in the heritage value system of the past 40 years, at the same time also looking at the principal differences between West and East.