The UNESCO twinning between Langhe-Roero-Monferrato and Honghe Hani: balancing heritage protection and economic development

The 2019 twinning between Langhe-Roero-Monferrato and Honghe Hani aims at boosting the development of these UNESCO territories, protecting the cultural heritage, promoting good practices of sustainability, safeguarding and valorizing their agricultural economy and enhancing cooperation in the cultural, economic and trade fields, thus contributing to strengthening trust between the parties and making the international system more harmonious. Despite being geographically distant, these two territories share a rich cultural and agricultural heritage deeply rooted in history, while remaining open to future innovations. The peculiarity of this twinning lies in its potential to become an exemplary model of cultural heritage management and (sustainable) economic development at a global level in various domains. Therefore, it opens up countless opportunities, not only economic, for the two countries, considering the strategic importance of their respective agricultural economies and the simultaneous need to preserve cultural heritage. Not by chance, China and Italy are the two countries with the most UNESCO heritage sites in the world, and are the bearers of an unparalleled artistic, cultural, and landscape heritage. The thesis will discuss the inevitable tension between cultural protection and economic development, which is particularly noticeable in the two UNESCO territories and exacerbated by the challenges of the 21st century. Furthermore, it will advance the need for an integrated UNESCO/FAO approach that can take both components into account for shared prosperity. To this end, the 2019 twinning has unlocked new opportunities for the management of this dilemma through an innovative form of international cooperation between Italy and China. ​