Union Culture Minister Kumari Selja has underlined the need to create enhanced sensitivity and capacity building at national, local and global levels for world heritage and sustainable development.

Addressing a workshop on World Heritage Convention in New Dellhi today, Ms Selja said, the target audiences should include governments, non-governmental agencies and civil society members for maintaining heritage properties.

She added, professional training, capacity building and awareness-raising programme among local populations and stakeholders are the important and immediate steps to be taken.

Ms Selja said, it is equally important to impart world heritage education targeted towards the youth and local populations and this is a key area where country need to work together.

The Minister also said, in recent years, most Asian countries have accelerated the introduction of new laws on heritage protection which sought to critically and comprehensively address the many aspects of heritage conservation.

She said, in this context, India has recently taken an important step by reinforcing the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, AMASRA, 2010, for protection of the National Monuments and World Heritage Properties under the ASI.

Ms Selja also said, a new National Monuments Authority has been created with the aim of defining a new paradigm for urban planning. A heritage sensitive perspective is being built in as a mandatory factor in development of spaces around heritage monuments.

Ms Selja said, India being a member on the World Heritage Committee, has an increasing responsibility towards implementation of the World Heritage Convention.