Aurora Petan, The World Heritage Convention and Romania. Case Study: the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains

Abstract

Romania has signed the World Heritage Convention in 1990. Its process of implementation was carried out along two decades, but the resulting legal framework does not grant at present the appropriate protection and management of the sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Moreover, even if steps have been taken towards the implementation of the Convention, the compliance with it is far from being a reality. This study brings forth the fact that in the case of the serial World Heritage Site “Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains”, there is a twofold non-compliance with the Convention. First, there is a substantive non-compliance, resulting from the almost complete dereliction of the site: in the last 20 years, there was no management system and 5 of its 6 component parts have been abandoned. Secondly, there is procedural noncompliance, resulting from the fake reporting to the World Heritage Centre, as well as from the omission of some reports. The real situation has recently surfaced, due to the intervention of the civil society, and the World Heritage Centre triggered the reactive monitoring process for this site. At the same time, the possible causes of this non-compliance have been analysed in view of identifying urgent solutions meant to re-establish the balance with respect to the Convention. The main directions of action proposed are the improvement of the legal framework and the adoption of appropriate heritage policies.