DCT Abu Dhabi leads global efforts to safeguard heritage

The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has announced that it will host “Expert Modules for Strategic Knowledge Co-Creation,” a series of focused seminars and workshops with cultural heritage experts that promotes an integrated approach and a unified strategy for preserving and showcasing both cultural and natural heritage.

Launching in September 2025, the programme underscores DCT Abu Dhabi’s long-standing commitment to promote cultural sustainability, protect heritage assets, and ensure meaningful access to cultural resources for future generations.

These modules will build upon the inaugural International Forum on Cultural Heritage & Knowledge Development, held in May 2025 by DCT Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), along with other national and international partners, including the UAE Ministry of Culture.

The first-of-its-kind Forum focused on advancing culture education, safeguarding heritage, and promoting integrated approaches to heritage protection and development. The Forum itself was a direct response to the recommendations of UNESCO’s World Conference on Culture and Arts Education, also hosted in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. Together, these growing initiatives form part of the broader heritage law strategy of Abu Dhabi.

Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said, “The preservation of our heritage is a shared mission that requires collaboration, knowledge exchange, and collective action. Building on the outcomes of the International Forum on Cultural Heritage & Knowledge Development, the ongoing work to safeguard our past by upskilling our culture sector workforce continues with this important series of seminars, workshops and hands-on field visits.

DCT Abu Dhabi has announced that it will host 'Expert Modules for Strategic Knowledge Co-Creation.'

“We are equipping specialists across a range of disciplines to effectively conserve our stories, sites and traditions, ensuring our shared cultural and natural heritage remain a source of identity, opportunity and inspiration in Abu Dhabi, the region and beyond.”

In line with the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education (Abu Dhabi, 2024), the MONDIACULT Conference (2022) and the Pact for the Future Summit (2024), the programme reinforces the role of culture and education and interconnected pillars for advancing knowledge and shaping resilient, equitable societies. Furthermore, the initiative’s launch is anchored in the belief that everyone, individually and collectively, owns the right to benefit from and contribute to the enrichment of cultural heritage.

Based on the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right (1966), the programme aims to activate living heritage places where access to culture is integral to exercising cultural rights. It also serves as a catalyst for inclusive, sustainable socio-economic and environmental development. Moreover, the programme affirms that in a world of increasingly complex challenges, cultural heritage - tangible, intangible, and natural - remains essential to social unity, economic opportunity, and historical continuity through its intrinsic meanings, identities, and values.

DCT Abu Dhabi continues to play a leading role in championing policies and initiatives that ensure cultural heritage is safeguarded for future generations, while simultaneously enabling communities to engage with and benefit from it today.

The initiative is built as an integrated approach to heritage protection and promotion. The programme consists of four thematic modules. Module one, Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites, introduces heritage as a shared responsibility and a catalyst for sustainable development. It explores legal, institutional, and practical approaches to protecting heritage sites, from UNESCO frameworks to national and local actions.

Module two, Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Cultural Industries), dissects cultural diversity as a foundation for innovation, inclusion, and resilience. It navigates how legal frameworks, cultural industries, education, and civil society contribute to protecting diverse cultural voices, particularly in times of rapid change or crises.

Module three, Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, addresses submerged heritage such as coastal archaeological sites.

Lastly, module four, Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, focuses on traditions, knowledge systems, practices, oral expressions, and performing arts.

WAM