This open access book identifies various forms of heritage destruction and analyses their causes. It proposes strategies for avoiding and solving conflicts, based on integrating heritage into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It reflects on the identity-building role of heritage, on multidimensional conflicts and the destruction of heritage, and considers conflict-solving strategies and future perspectives. Furthermore, it engages theoretically and practically with the concepts of responsibility, reconciliation and sustainability, relating mainly to four Sustainable Development Goals, i.e. SDGs 4 (education), 11 (e.g. World Heritage), 13 (climate action) and 17 (partnerships for the goals). More than 160 countries have inscribed properties on the UNESCO World Heritage list since the World Heritage Convention came into force. Improvements in the implementation of the Convention, such as the Global Strategy for a Representative, Balanced and Credible World Heritage List, have occurred, but other conflicts have not been solved. The book advocates for a balanced distribution of properties and more effective strategies to represent the global diversity of cultural and natural heritage. Furthermore it highlights the importance of heritage in identity building.

Marie-Theres Albert (Germany) is a retired professor and former Chairholder of the Chair Intercultural Studies and the UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, where she co-initiated and presided the "World Heritage Studies Master Program" (1999-2010) and founded the PhD Program Heritage Studies (2010). In 2014, she founded the Institute Heritage Studies (IHS) at the Internationale Akademie Berlin (INA) gGmbH. In the context of the IHS, she developed a new paradigmatic approach to Heritage Studies together with her former students. It interprets our heritage in the interest of human development. Since then, she has successfully implemented it in many international projects. Roland Bernecker (Germany) is Visiting Professor for the Chair of Cultural Management at Brandenburg University of Technology. He was Secretary-General of the German Commission for UNESCO (2004-2019). He took part in the negotiations of the legal instruments of UNESCO for the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) and the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) and was Member of the Panel for the European Heritage Label (2013-2017). From 2002 to 2004, he worked in the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. Previously, he was Director of the French-German Cultural Institute in Nantes, France, and Lecturer at the University of Nantes. Claire Cave (Ireland) is a lecturer and coordinator of the World Heritage Management programme at University College Dublin (UCD). She holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from UCD with a focus on conservation biology. Her work centres on protected area management in view of globalization and sustainable development. Claire founded the innovative UCD distance learning course in World Heritage Conservation and leads the UCD World Heritage PhD programme which is engaged in diverse research in different countries. Claire is currently a member of the expert advisory group supporting the revision of Ireland's World Heritage Tentative List. Anca Claudia Prodan (Romania/Germany), Ph.D., is a research consultant at the Institute Heritage Studies, Berlin and guest lecturer at the Latvian Academy of Culture, Riga, where she helped establish a master's programme in Cultural Heritage Governance and Communication. She holds degrees in Philosophy-Anthropology and (World) Heritage Studies, and she initiated academic research on the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. She is corresponding member of the Sub-Committee on Education and Research of the MoW Programme; a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Heritage Studies Series; the Association of Critical Heritage Studies; and the International Association of World Heritage Professionals. Matthias Ripp (Germany), Ph.D., historical geographer, is coordinating the "Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof" site. He specializes in integrated heritage management, heritage communication, governance and resilience of urban heritage and is chairing the German Association of World Heritage Cities. He is also an appointed member of the European Heritage Panel and the Regional Coordinator for Northwest Europe and North-America in the Organization of Heritage Cities (OWHC). He very much enjoys teaching at the University of Regensburg and the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg.