In a talk given at the seminar series of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Eduardo Mondlane University last May, Albino Jopela suggested that power relations among key actors undermine the implementation of projects to improve conservation and management of the island’s heritage and the living conditions of its inhabitants. Successful implementation of new approaches to heritage conservation such as UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape Approach, transcends the technical sphere. It calls for central government’s political willingness to move beyond official rhetoric on the importance of culture and heritage for development that ultimately is not translated into key policy documents and a meaningful devolution of decision-making powers and resources to local institutions such as the Conservation Office of the Island of Mozambique.
