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The purpose of this paper is to set out a proposal for an indicator of conservation (Indicator of the State of Conservation – Isc) to assess the state of conservation of urban heritage sites. It was designed as a monitoring instrument to perform two tasks: to evaluate how the conservation of an urban site evolves over time (internal performance analysis); and to compare cities’ conservation performance (comparative performance analysis).

The indicator was developed using the theoretical approach. The paper presents the main concepts used as key performance indicators, that is, significance, integrity and authenticity and how they contribute to meeting the objective of attaining the sustainable conservation of heritage sites.

The Isc indicator is expressed as a function of three key performance indicators (KPIs) of significance, integrity and authenticity that are assessed by surveying the opinion of the main stakeholders involved with the conservation management of sites. The structure of the Isc is fixed and the same for all sites, independent of their geographical location. However, the structure of the KPIs can be adapted to express the social composition of stakeholders and to use the capabilities and resources of the management institutions of the sites.

The indicator may be used for monitoring the state of conservation of the World Heritage Urban Sites.

The indicator allows a non‐biased evaluation of the conservation process of the World Heritage Urban Sites.

The paper presents the Indicator of the State of Conservation (Isc), which is the first indicator of this type.

Examines the history of US conservation police agencies and notes how changes in social values and recreational activities have increased the demands for the protection of wildlife and other natural resources. This has led to the creation of departments of natural resources (DNRs). DNRs have placed an increasingly heavier burden on conservation police departments and have demanded a wider range of tasks and responsibilities of them. These more general policing tasks have, in turn, cast the formerly law enforcement‐oriented conservation police into a more generalist police‐like posture.

The purpose of this paper is to set out the weighting of the indicator of conservation (Isc) to assess the state of conservation of urban heritage sites and three key performance indicators (KPIs): significance, integrity and authenticity.

The weighting process was developed using the Delphi technique with the participation of 34 international specialists from all regions of the world.

The Isc indicator is expressed as a function of three KPIs: significance, integrity and authenticity. All KPIs have the same relative importance in the Isc. The resulting values of the weights of the opinion of the stakeholders in the KPIs were in conformity with theory. Clearly the stakeholders can be divided into two groups of importance. The opinion of the local specialists, long‐standing residents and cultural reference groups were shown to be more important than the opinion of new residents and visitors.

The indicator may be used for monitoring the state of conservation of the World Heritage Urban Sites.

The indicator allows a non‐biased evaluation of the conservation process of the World Heritage Sites.

The indicator of conservation presented in the paper is the first of its type.

This paper describes a system of collaboration between cultural institutions, conservation scientists and companies focussed on achieving global sustainability in museum and heritage sites through proactive conservation. The purpose of this paper is to propose the Proactive Collaborative Conservation (ProCoCo) as a viable tool to accomplish this objective.

The lack of degradation studies on contemporary materials, such as composites, was identified as an issue for the future of cultural heritage. Developing new approaches to heritage and conservation becomes vital and it is in this landscape that ProCoCo is inserted. A concise review of the literature is reported and the process that led to the development of ProCoCo is explained. Backcasting and forecasting were used to develop different parts of the approach.

ProCoCo consists in studying parameters of the new materials, manufactured by the commercial partner, then simulating the ageing and, finally, re-studying the same parameters in order to predict lifetime changes. During the case study, it was confirmed that such an approach helps in identifying weaknesses in the material, which can then become useful for conservators and manufacturers.

The approach allows conservation scientists and conservators to measure the conservation state of materials and to detect degradation at an early stage.

ProCoCo offers a different vision of the long-term issue of funding accessibility faced by museums and suggests a way of improving heritage global sustainability. It proposes a pragmatic and lasting solution to the insufficient public economic support in the arts which runs parallel to government aid.

There are many threats to cultural heritage including armed conflict and natural disasters such as earthquakes, fire and flooding. It is understandable that these dramatic events frequently capture the world’s attention. However, a far more considerable danger is inadequate management a lack of financial resources to conduct continuous conservation and maintenance. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the current state of financial sustainability at a limited selection set of tangible immovable cultural heritage sites and investigate why this critical aspect is deficient. Case studies have been identified where management improved, and a level of financial sustainability is achieved.

To improve the conservation of tangible immovable cultural heritage sites, a specific definition of financial sustainability is required, which significantly differs from the management of for-profit activities and even other non-profit cultural institutions such as museums, and takes into account the special requirements for conservation and education, additional values, site access and the wide variety of places that range from archaeological sites to single structures. The methodology began with researching the definition of financial sustainability from non-profit institutions then refining through the application it to a defined and limited selection set of World Heritage properties. World Heritage properties were selected, given the wealth of data readily available. Following this larger selection, several evaluation case studies were selected for further investigation including an analysis of the management circumstances and how greater financial sustainability was achieved. The investigation initially relied on secondary sources including academic articles, thesis, management plans, nomination dossiers, reactive monitoring mission reports, newspaper articles, periodic reporting and required State of Conservation Reports. The case study investigation relied on primary sources including observational site visits and interviews using an informal questionnaire. Findings were later verified by follow up interviews.

The research led to a definition of financial sustainability specifically for tangible cultural heritage sites that included five components, namely, management planning, revenue identification, expenditure analysis, administration and strategic planning, and, most importantly, alignment and support of cultural, educational and conservation mission. A majority of World Heritage properties in this study fall short of this definition of financial sustainability and do not sufficiently address this issue. Research revealed that there is a need for more dialogue with informed data on the financial aspects of managing tangible cultural heritage sites as most locations studied are not able to efficiently manage funds or take full advantage of possible opportunities. However, a few sites have achieved greater financial sustainability. The research describes the identified five critical circumstances in further defining financial sustainability: a conducive and open planning environment, knowledge and education, positive perceptions concerning the importance of finance, managerial autonomy and public interest. These circumstances permitted better management of existing funding and an environment for innovation.

Research limitations during the initial study included a hesitation or unwillingness to discuss financial details, a general lack of statistics, a lack of knowledge related to finance, a prejudice against the topic and a concern over the commodification of cultural heritage. However, as the case studies identified achieved greater financial sustainability, this was less of a limitation. Additional limitations included the necessity to conduct interviews via telephone and in European languages, English, Spanish and Italian. The final limitation was that this study only focused on single tangible cultural heritage sites and excluded larger sites such as entire cities and intangible or movable cultural heritage.

The circumstances, which comprise the definition, identified during the research lead to a number of possibilities for improving the financial sustainability. The first is not to place emphasis on a management plan but in fostering an environment that encourages financial planning. The second circumstance is to improve the knowledge and education of finance for site managers. Third, a positive perception of finance, standard business practice and surplus generating activities must occur. Fourth, financial management must be devolved to individual sites. Finally, the public must be involved to ensure financial sustainability. There must be initiatives to frequently include the local community and encourage participation.

Most cultural heritage sites are financially dependent upon the state, and this will likely continue, but it is improbable to expect full financial support ad infinitum. Overdependence on highly variable top-down funding leaves cultural heritage vulnerable and open to uncertainty. While it is unrealistic to expect most sites to become financially self-sufficient or that managers will suddenly become entrepreneurs, it is reasonable to expect some improvement. The goal should not be to create a business from cultural heritage but to improve financial management for greater sustainability. Financially sustainability ensures that sites are conserved and maintained for future generations.

The need to preserve cultural heritage is widely recognized by many different segments of society. However, the availability of financial resources to sustain conservation is often deficient or overlooked. Without taking measures for continued financial support, tangible cultural heritage is at risk as preventive maintenance is ignored and essential personnel and their skills are lost. Commodification of cultural heritage is of great concern and, when used as a means of generating income, it can compromise other values. Thus, a critical balancing act must be achieved by those who care about the historic, aesthetic and scientific values.

Places of worship have historically been maintained using traditional building management techniques, including regular monitoring, upkeep and maintenance provided by their religious communities. This paper examines the conservation issues arising after the forced displacement of the traditional custodians, which is a significant concern in conflict-ridden environments.

As a unique example of a long-term conflict, the divided Cyprus provides this research with illustrative cases to derive the data. The research employs content analysis of official documents, physical observations and interviews with conservation professionals.

This research demonstrates the human and environmental factors impacting the conservation of the material fabric and the use-related challenges stemming from the intangible significance of the religious legacy belonging to displaced communities. It highlights the urgency to formulate more effective mechanisms and regulatory frameworks to address vulnerability issues promptly.

Preservation problems on religious heritage buildings arising from the loss of traditional custodians after conflicts are an under-researched area in conservation literature. Drawing on research that was conducted several decades after the displacement of Cypriot communities, this paper reveals new insights into the magnitude of the conservation problems and the use-related complexities that need to be addressed to formulate mutually acceptable solutions for a sustainable future.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the assets of a preventive conservation approach for historical timber roof structures, as a means to improve the quality and durability of maintenance and repair interventions.

The advantages of a preventive approach for historical structures were identified based on two analyses: a study of the structures’ behaviour and an investigation of existing approaches in current practice. The two main identified advantages of the approach, the cyclic process-approach and the potential of knowledge enhancement, were hereafter conceptually implemented in existing approaches.

Current practices focus on single curative interventions, and monitoring is often considered redundant. The importance of monitoring and knowledge enhancement is demonstrated based on the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS). A preventive conservation approach for historic timber roof structures allows integrating these insights.

The analysis of current practice is a sample survey, and the proposed preventive conservation approach is presented at a conceptual level. Future research foresees a more elaborated study of current practice and detailed validation of the developed approach.

Three new contributions to the existing research on preventive conservation are: arguments for the implementation of a preventive approach, based on an analysis of the structures’ behaviour; the identification of limitations of current approaches that can be tackled in a preventive conservation approach; and the integration of the existing international guidelines and the principles of preventive conservation into a conceptual approach for the monitoring and management of these structures. Furthermore, the research paper demonstrates how timber structures can be understood as CAS, which is a novel viewpoint.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting performance of heritage conservation projects in terms of project management parameters of time, cost, and quality.

An exploratory study was conducted in India, wherein 41 conservation professionals were interviewed. The method adopted for the study was unstructured interviews, wherein the respondents were asked open-ended questions about the issues faced in such projects and factors affecting project performance.

The interview recordings and notes, made during the exploratory study, have been manually coded to identify the most frequently mentioned problems, group them into categories, and assess their relative importance.

This paper has presented a broad overview of the challenges faced by heritage conservation projects in general. Further research is necessary to analyse if the challenges depend on factors like type of heritage, project delivery model, and stakeholders involved, and to develop mitigation strategies for these challenges.

The findings from this study can be used by practitioners to improve performance of heritage conservation projects in terms of time, cost, and quality.

The findings of the exploratory study help to better understand the reasons of poor performance of heritage conservation projects in terms of time, cost, and quality. The paper has identified major challenges of the sector, and assessed their relative importance, which can help in developing project management strategy for future projects.

Biodiversity is required to sustain life on earth, but the rampant growth in the illegal wildlife trade has created a global conservation challenge, where the African continent is one of the primary casualties. This paper aims to explore how South African National Parks (SANParks) (as the custodian of the largest population of rhinos in the wild) accounts to its stakeholders about how it has discharged its biodiversity mandate relating to rhino preservation.

The paper seeks to determine whether the increase in rhino-poaching over the period from 2006 to 2015 is reflected by a concomitant increase in related disclosures in SANParks’ annual reports. It adopts a mixed-methods research approach using both descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as a qualitative analysis of pertinent narrative disclosures describing how SANParks accounts to its stakeholders on the discharge of the rhino-related component of its biodiversity mandate.

The study finds that SANParks uses its publicly available annual reports to disclose how it has discharged the rhino-related component of its biodiversity mandate. In this regard, it identified a strong positive correlation between incidents of rhino-poaching and annual report disclosures in the period up to 2010. Initially, SANParks disclosed its rhino-poaching-related performance through impression management to bolster its legitimacy, but later focused its reporting on its rhino conservation efforts.

Although the subject of rhino-poaching has been extensively researched, this one of the first papers to explore the phenomenon from a governance and accountability perspective of a state-owned entity (\ SANParks) under the mantle of extinction accounting.

In his remarkable essay “On books and the housing of them” Gladstone was apprehensive of developments which have since become major problems of library administration. He observed that “already the increase of books is passing into geometrical progression” and he predicted that it was “in truth difficult to assign dimensions for the libraries of the future”. He proposed in somewhat pointed terms a Victorian version of Boston Spa. From the evergrowing mass of books, items would have to be selected for “interment”, “burial”. “Undoubtedly the idea of book‐cemeteries such as I have supposed is formidable. It should be kept within the limits of the dire necessity … But it will have to be faced, and faced perhaps oftener than might be supposed. And the artist needed for the constructions it requires will not be so much a librarian as a warehouseman ”. He speaks of “boundless' demand for books, of their processing and of their housing. Of special interest in this essay are his comments on preservation. “If we wish to give to the block [of the text] a lease of life equal to that of the pages, the first condition is that it should be bound. So at least one would have said half a century ago. But, while books are in most instances cheaper, binding, from causes which I do not understand, is dearer, at least in England, than it was in my early years. So that few can afford it. We have, however, the tolerable and very useful expedient of cloth binding (now in some danger, I fear, of losing its modesty through flaring ornamentation) to console us”.