ABSTRACT
Cultural meanings associated with natural heritage tend to refer to the evolutionary significance of a specific natural site. Such rhetoric situates natural heritage in contrast with contemporary human life and culture, essentially excluding humans from the authentic integrity of the site. Yet, as well demonstrated by Kumi Kato’s case study of the Shirakami-sanchi World Heritage Area, “conservation commitment is in essence a local community’s sense of connection with their surrounding nature and their commitment to maintain the integrity of a place of which they are part” (Kato 2006: 459). Supported by recent studies in anthropology and human
geography (Plumwood 2002; Rodman 2003; Schech and Haggis 2000), Kato’s findings suggest that a local community’s conservation commitment is critical and is formed through long connection with a place, similar to the way in which intangible cultural heritage is formed. Just as oral traditions, social practices, and traditional craftsmanship articulate intangible cultural heritage, cultural meanings and values associated with natural heritage also are “constantly recreated by communities and groups, in response to their environment, their interaction with nature, and their historical conditions of existence” (UNESCO 2005).
