Heritage, Landscape and Spatial Justice: New Legal Perspectives on Heritage Protection in the Lesser Antilles

The Caribbean region faces environmental challenges due to colonial land use, tourism, globalization, and climate change, which affect its heritage resources. This research explores the relationship between land, law, and heritage in the English-speaking Caribbean to understand the regulatory failures that undermine heritage protection. It finds that domestic heritage laws are ineffective in protecting local places and landscapes, as they classify heritage as abstract property rights. International law has adopted a more progressive stance, placing community relationships with landscape at the heart of heritage protection strategies. Integrating landscape considerations into the legal framework can make law more responsive to the local cultural and natural environment and relevant to debates concerning climate change, ecosystem degradation, access to public spaces, and environmental human rights.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 10 October 2022
Publisher: Sidestone Press

The Caribbean region faces a multitude of environmental challenges, stemming from its colonial past, the pressures of tourism and globalization, and the impacts of climate change. These challenges not only affect the region's natural resources but also its rich heritage, encompassing both cultural and natural elements that are vital for economic survival and local identity. This research aims to explore the complex relationship between land, law, and heritage in the English-speaking Caribbean, with a particular focus on the regulatory failures that hinder the protection of heritage.

Using a spatial justice lens, the analysis examines the legal framework of eight islands in the Lesser Antilles. It argues that domestic heritage laws are inadequate, as they fail to recognize the significance of local places and landscapes in shaping heritage. Instead, these laws treat heritage as mere visual embellishments that can burden landowners or the State, rather than as the result of dynamic and unique interactions between people and place. While domestic laws continue to classify heritage as objects, sites, and buildings with fixed aesthetic value, international law has taken a more progressive stance. It emphasizes the importance of community relationships with the landscape as a core element of heritage protection strategies. Empowering communities to contest unsustainable treatment of the landscape can lead to the recognition of the value of landscape integrity to sustainable heritage and influence change at the national level.

Integrating landscape considerations into the legal framework can enhance the responsiveness of law to the nuances and limitations of the local cultural and natural environment. These dynamic landscape processes are also relevant to debates surrounding climate change and ecosystem management. By recognizing the interconnectedness of land, law, and heritage, the Caribbean region can strive towards a more sustainable and equitable future, preserving its rich cultural heritage for generations to come.

Weight: 534g
Dimension: 257 x 181 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789464280395