Consolidate within the book are IUCN guidelines, from the immediate protection of sacred sites to the amendment of legislation concerning the sites. An introduction is given of the examples of the administration of more noteworthy sacred sites from around the world, with Estonia's sacred sites and their related spiritual heritage discussed in a separate chapter. The manual significantly alters the treatment, according to which sacred sites in Estonia have so far been treated as either archaeological or natural heritage sites. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources treats sacred sites as humanity's oldest nature conservation areas, where the traditions of indigenous people are to be followed together in order to protect nature as well as spiritual heritage. The manual was prepared by the World Commission on Protected Areas’ workgroup on the cultural and spiritual values of protected areas in cooperation with UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme. The book was published in Estonian by Maavalla Koda. The endeavour was supported by the Ministry of the Environment and the Environmental Investment Centre. 1000 copies of the book were printed and free copies were handed out to environmental, cultural heritage and local government agencies involved in the administration of sacred sites. Larger libraries and institutions of higher education will also receive copies. In order to provide and introduction to the manual, information days are being organised in the six regions of the Environmental Board. Information day are taking place on 4 October in Penijõe, in Lääne County, on 6 October in Tartu, 13 October in Otepää, 18 October in Pärnu, 25 October in Rakvere and 1 November in Tallinn. Additional information about the information days can be found at the address: http://www.fl.ut.ee/1064564. IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is the world’s largest nature conservation union, with more than 160 member countries. The book was published for the first time in English in 2008, and was approved at IUCN’s fourth World Conservation Congress in October of that year. Together with many other countries, the Republic of Estonia also approved the manual. In addition to English, the manual has been published previously in Spanish and Russian. The manual was published in Estonian because there are a large number of natural sacred sites in Estonia and the customary practices connected to them have reached the modern day in a noteworthy and lively manner. Natural sacred sites hold an important place in Estonia’s nature and culture and they have begun to be valued at the national level. The national development plan for natural sacred sites, approved by the Ministry of Culture in 2008, prescribes the placement under protection of all preserved sacred sites and their protection as whole natural-cultural sites. |
