World Heritage Day:

• The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in 1982 had decided to celebrate April 18 as as the International Day for Monuments and Sites or World Heritage Day.
  Approved by UNESCO in 1983 during its 22nd General Conference, the day is dedicated to recognising sites of historical importance, raising awareness regarding them, and stressing on the need to restore and preserve them.
• The day promotes cultural importance, while also highlighting the many impediments in doing so.
• Every year, a theme is proposed for the day which guides the celebrations and the many activities that ICOMOS National and International Scientific Committees and by other bodies
• The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘Rural Landscapes’, which is related to the theme of the 2019 ICOMOS Scientific Symposium on Rural heritage that will take place in Marrakesh, Morocco in October

Rural Landscapes:

• ICOMOS defines rural landscape as, “Principles concerning rural landscapes as heritage”,adopted by the ICOMOS General Assembly in 2017.
• Rural landscapes are defined as “terrestrial and aquatic areas co-produced by human- nature interaction used for the production of food and other renewable natural resources, via agriculture, animal husbandry and pastoralism, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, wild food gathering, hunting, and extraction of other resources, such as salt. Rural landscapes are multifunctional
• At the same time, all rural areas have cultural meanings attributed to them by people and communities: all rural areas are landscapes.
• Rural landscape has been a site of both tangible and intangible heritage and has also helped in maintaining a balance between the environment and human