The International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) is the first UNESCO Category 2 Centre dedicated to promoting, testing and demonstrating the applications of space technologies for the conservation, management and sustainable development of World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks. Its establishment was approved by the 35th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2009 and its formal operation began in July 2011.
As a valuable, non-renewable resource for the sustainable development of human society, world heritage is an important record of the development of human civilizations and various phenomena on the Earth, making clear the paths to harmonious development between human beings and nature. The physical and chemical characteristics of cultural and natural heritage sites form a foundation for multi-platform, multi-band and multi-mode remote sensing technologies to reflect geometric and spectral characteristics, from which we can identify other features that make the site distinct and valuable. In this way, remote sensing technology has remarkable potential for monitoring and preserving world heritage. From the perspective of disciplinary development, studying world heritage through space-based information technology is becoming a new subject area, which covers natural and social sciences, humanities, and engineering and so on.
The operation and management of HIST is carried out under the direction of a Governing Board. The Governing Board is the decision-making body responsible for examining and approving the mid-term strategy, annual work report, annual programmes and budget; supervising the Secretariat in implementing the Board’s decisions; and promoting cooperation and exchange with UNESCO, its Member States, and relevant international organizations.
The Governing Board is reconstituted every three years. Each selected member serves a three-year term, renewable for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The first Board was established in 2011, followed by the second in 2014 through global recruitment. After the second operational agreement was signed in 2018, the third Board was formed. In 2023, the fourth Board was established through global recruitment.
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Board Chair |
Chair’s Representative |
Chair Institution: Chinese Academy of Sciences |
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Board Members |
Guo Huadong |
Director of HIST; Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Academician of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences |
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Huang Xiaofan |
Director of World Heritage Division, Department of World Cultural Heritage, National Cultural Heritage Administration |
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Representative |
Representative of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO |
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Ana Roders |
Professor in Heritage and Values, Delft University of Technology |
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Andreas Georgopoulos |
Board Member, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) |
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António Abreu |
Director of the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, UNESCO |
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Guy Debonnet |
Chief of Nature, Sustainable Tourism and Outreach Unit, UNESCO World Heritage Centre |
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Tim Badman |
Head of Heritage, Culture and Youth Team, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) |
HIST has established a Scientific Committee composed of over 20 domestic experts specializing in space technology, natural heritage, and cultural heritage. The committee is responsible for providing professional advice on HIST's medium- and long-term strategic planning, annual plans, routine operations.
| Position in the Scientific Committee | Name | Title/Position | Organization |
| Honorary Director | Guo Huadong | Academician | UNESCO International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage |
| Director | Zhu Min | Academician | Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences |
| Deputy Director | Lv Zhou Qiao Yunfei Zhao Qianjun |
Professor Research Librarian Research Fellow |
Tsinghua University National Cultural Heritage Administration Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences |
| Committee Members | Chen Fulong Deng Xiangzheng Du Zhenhong Jin Kun Li Xiaosong Lin Hui Miao Changhong Pei Junling Sun Jimin Wang Xinyuan Yang Bisheng Zhan Changfa Zhang Baoxiu Zhao Rong |
Research Fellow Research Fellow Professor Research Fellow Research Fellow Professor Professor Professor Research Fellow Research Fellow Professor Research Librarian Professor Professor |
UNESCO International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences Zhejiang University Chinese Academy of Forestry International Research Centre of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals Jiangxi Normal University Henan University East China University of Technology Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences UNESCO International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage Wuhan University China Foundation For Cultural Heritage Conservation Beijing Union University Northwest University |
International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage under the auspices of UNESCO
Address: No.9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094
Email:office@unesco-hist.org
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