The future office of National Heritage Foundation and (right) heritage sites identified by the organisation. Photo: STAR

At a time when a large number of national heritage sites are languishing in oblivion, a private organisation has come up with a plan to draw a roadmap to rescue and protect them.

The National Heritage Foundation (NHF), launched in October, vows to preserve, protect, and promote culture and heritage of the country and to include more heritage sites of Bangladesh on the World Heritage List.

The activities of NHF would also be aimed at protecting the indigenous people, their culture and provide help in excavation work of heritage sites.

The foundation is yet to start its activities and is in the process of forming an executive committee. The committee would consist of 12 members who would have expertise in various related fields including natural and cultural heritage, anthropology and conservation architecture.

The committee is expected to take charge in March this year, said sources at the NHF.

Rizwan Bin Farouq, convenor of NHF, said one of the objectives of the foundation is to include more heritage sites of the country on the World Heritage List of Unesco.

"There are many heritage sites in the country which meet the criteria for making it to the World Heritage List, but they are excluded for various reasons," he said.

"Only three sites in Bangladesh are on the Unesco World Heritage List when there are hundreds more such sites in the country. Our main task would be to make sure that more national heritage sites of Bangladesh are included on the World Heritage List," he added.

The three heritage sites in Bangladesh recognised on the Unesco World Heritage List are the ruins of Buddhist Vihara or the Somapura Mahavihara at Paharpur in Naogaon, the historic mosque city of Bagerhat where the Sat Gambud Mosque is located and the Sundarbans in south-western Khulna.

The NHF has identified a number of sites that require special attention for preservation and protection. These sites include Mahasthangarh in Bogra, Kantaji Temple in Dinajpur, Gaur, Chhoto Sona Mosque, Kusumba Stone Mosque, Bagha Mosque, Govinda Temple, Atia Mosque, Ahsan Manzil, Star Mosque, Lalbagh Fort, Sonargaon, Hazrat Shah Jalal's shrine, Shalbon Bihar in Mainamoti, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong Hill Tracts and the waterfalls at Sitakunda and Madhabkunda.

The foundation has prepared a heritage map that includes the prominent heritage sites of this country.

"We have decided to work in this respect as we do not see any significant move taken by the government or any other organisation," said Farouq.

"Our job will be to formally persuade Unesco to include theses important sites. If we can get these sites included, these will get required funds and exposure that will help them thrive properly," he added.

"It is an initiative by a few people, but anyone can become its member and contribute in every possible way to give the right credit to our heritage," Farouq said.

Other than the members, the executive body of the committee will have a chairman, three vice chairmen, a treasurer, a general secretary and an organising secretary.

It will be an independent body governed by its bylaws registered under Society Act of Bangladesh. Founder members will come from wide and varied backgrounds having interest in preserving the national heritage.

The NHF will disseminate knowledge about the country's cultural and natural heritage through websites, publications, conference, seminars, exhibitions, debates, light and sound shows, etc. It will pursue the inclusion of heritage of the country in the mainstream education.

To turn Bangladesh into the next most attractive tourist destination in the world, NHF will attempt to put ten national heritage sites in the World Heritage map every year. The foundation also plans to mobilise support for declaring 2010 the 'Visit Bangladesh' year.

The launching ceremony of NHF was held in Heritage Restaurant at Gulshan in the capital. Artist Rafiqun Nabi and renowned architect Shamsul Wares attended the ceremony.

"It is a good step. We need the right kind of persons to protect our heritage. There should be more organisations that will work selflessly towards saving our heritage," said Wares.

Meanwhile, the Sundarbans and the Cox's Bazar sea beach are still holding two top positions respectively in an online voting by The New Seven Wonders of the World, a Lisbon-based organisation.

Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest of the world, is famous for the Bengal Tiger and rich flora and fauna. Cox's Bazar, the longest natural sea beach of the world, is an attraction for the tourists from outside.

Contest among the nominated natural sites will continue till December 31, 2008. Then a new panel of experts will prepare a list of 21 candidate sites from which voters worldwide will elect the new seven wonders of nature.

A total of 158 natural sites across the world have been nominated to date and voting through Internet website is continuing to select the top sites for final voting. The vote can be cast on www.new7wonders.com.

“At this time when two of our natural heritages are at the top of the new world natural heritage list this kind of organisations can do a lot by properly projecting our natural heritage sites and boost the image of our country in the international arena,” said an expert.