The World Heritage is based on a great idea, but it has many challenges to address. Let us see some of them by reviewing the case of Japan's Iwami silver mine.

　素晴らしい理念を持つ世界遺産だが、一方で多くの課題も抱えている。石見銀山登録の例から考えてみたい。

 The remains of the silver mine located in Shimane Prefecture was registered as Japan's 14^th World Heritage site in 2007. Before then, Japan had all its 13 previously recommended sites accepted soon after it had made a bid. But this winning streak came to an end in May 2007 when the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body to UNESCO, recommended postponing the registration of the Iwami silver mine. The reason it cited was that the candidate site lacked evidence of “outstanding universal value,” one of the registration conditions set by UNESCO. As a matter of fact, Seiichi Kondo, then Japanese ambassador to UNESCO, reportedly said at the time, “My first impression was that it's just an ordinary mountain.”

　日本で14番目の世界遺産として登録されたのが島根県の石見銀山遺跡である。それまで申請すれば登録される「１３連勝」を誇ってきた日本が、初めてこの石見銀山で「登録延期」を勧告された。理由は、遺跡の「顕著な普遍的価値」の証明が不十分であること。実際、ユネスコ代表部大使の近藤誠一氏の第一印象も「普通の山」だった。

 However, he was impressed when a Shimane official explained to him, “Our predecessors kept greenery by planting trees immediately after felling trees. They planted bamboos to prevent landslides.” This gave the envoy an inspiration. He thought an “environment-friendly silver mine” can be a good catchphrase.

　しかし、近藤氏は「先人たちは木を切ったらすぐに植林し、地崩れ防止に竹を植え、緑を維持してきた」という説明を聞き、「環境に優しい銀山」というキャッチフレーズがひらめいた。

 An A4-size paper prepared in English and French for submission to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee later highlighted the word “environmental friendliness” along with a phrase that “the silver turned out at Iwami accounted for a third of the global silver trade at the beginning of the 17th century.”

　ユネスコの世界遺産委員会前に説明する石見銀山の遺産価値を英語、フランス語でそれぞれＡ判1枚にまとめたペーパーには、「１７世紀初頭には石見産の銀が世界の銀交易の３分の1を占めた」という紹介文と共に、「Environmental friendliness」(環境への優しさ)というキーワードが盛り込まれた。

 Chile, a mining country, quickly responded to the word “environmental friendliness”. Its ambassador told Kondo of his country's support for Iwami's registration. It was on the morning of June 28, 2007 when the World Heritage Committee was to meet to discuss Japan's renewed bid. Kondo deeply thanked the Chilean ambassador and asked him to be the first speaker at the committee session. As a rule, any decision by the committee must be unanimous. Moreover, only 10 to 15 minutes are available for examination of each bid. It is too short for any academic debate to be conducted. Kondo reckoned that “once the initial trend is set, even silver-tongued Western specialists will find it hard to disagree…and the game will be ours.” Moreover, he had done his behind-the-scenes maneuvering to persuade the committee chair in advance.

　鉱山国であるチリがこれに反応し、委員会当日の早朝、「登録を支持する」との連絡が近藤氏へあった。近藤氏は丁寧に礼を述べつつ、チリに委員会での最初の発言を求めた。世界遺産委員会は全会一致を原則としており、しかも１つの候補の登録の是非に関する議論は平均で１０～１５分ほどしかない。そのため学術的な議論をする余裕はなく、「最初に流れができてしまえば、こちらのもの。弁の立つ欧米の専門家も反対しにくいはず」と近藤氏は読んでいた。議長にも根回しもした。

 When the committee session began, the Chilean ambassador was the first to take the floor. He spoke, “A green mine is really great. Today when environment conservation is all-important, we will be able to open a new page in the history of the world heritage by inscribing Iwami on the UNESCO list.” Morocco, Kenya and India threw their support behind Chile. The chair invited other speakers to come forward. But there were no dissenting opinions. Iwami was registered formally.

　そして本番。打ち合せ通り、チリが「緑の鉱山というのは実に素晴らしい。環境が重要な今の時代に石見銀山を登録することは、世界遺産の歴史に新しいページを開くことになる」と発言。 チリに続きモロッコ、ケニア、インドなども次々に賛成に回る。「反対はないですね」と議長が念を押し、こうして石見銀山の登録が正式に決まった。

(Written By Anna Tsutamori)

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