THERE is urgent need for a relevant inquiry to determine the state of the world’s cultural well-being, according to Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony.
He said it should be done through research and measurement to determine whether it is in a healthy or fragile state.

The minister was at the time addressing a high-level thematic debate on Culture and Development which was held at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, on Wednesday, June 12.    He represented the Government of Guyana at the forum.
Dr Anthony, in his address, said some evidence points to the destruction of cultural and heritage sites, loss of languages, devaluing of traditional practices and the erasure of historical records, giving the impression of an impending catastrophe.
Emphasising the importance of culture and its expression, Dr Anthony said that despite this, its contribution to humanity has been largely taken for granted and undervalued and efforts to quantify and measure the contributions of culture are often viewed with skepticism.
However, he acknowledged that its regenerative power has seen the explosive growth of the creative sector, the development of cultural industries and new jobs, as well as the opening up of new frontiers of thinking and being for humanity.
Anthony reaffirmed the necessity to measure the cultural well-being of the world in all its aspects, since, currently, it is difficult to make such an assessment due to the irregular collection of information and because it is not standardised.
“Without proper information, the public will remain unconvinced and will continue to undervalue the contributions of culture. If we are going to make a paradigm shift, like we did for climate change, then we need urgent global attention on culture, with the relevant statistics and interpretations,” he argued.

CULTURAL INDEX
In this regard, the minister proposed the establishment of a group of experts to develop a global cultural index with subsidiary indices at the regional and national levels.
According to him, this should be done in such a way as to allow for comparison of countries and include a comprehensive set of indicators to determine the full spectrum of culture.
“The development of this tool will provide us with the information to monitor and track cultural changes around the world. More importantly, it can be used to leverage global resources to empower local communities to harness and harvest their cultural products in a sustainable way,” he explained.
Dr Anthony said it is pleasing to note the evolution of thinking at the UN on the importance of culture for sustainable human development, which is especially significant.
He pointed out that there is, presently, increasing evidence in many countries of the growing contribution of culture to social, environmental and economic well-being.
He stated that countries which are harnessing the power of culture are doing so in several ways, including by making it into an engine of and resource for local development, using it to improve the country’s international position and competitiveness and creating new employment.
“Many of these measures are already improving lives and livelihoods, not only at the national levels but also, more importantly, at the community levels. We need to build the capacity of more countries to harness the economic power of their culture, especially in regions with few other resources or comparative advantages,” Dr Anthony maintained.
He said the nexus between culture and sustainable development is well established and it is important, therefore, that culture be given a higher priority in developmental strategies and programmes adopted by governments, national and international authorities.

HIGH IMPORTANCE
The minister underscored the high importance that the Government of Guyana places on culture as an integral part of the development of the Guyanese society, as it is a natural reflection of the diversity of the country’s peoples and a testimony to the individual strengths that have combined to realise a proud and progressive society.
“It is our belief that culture is critical to the success of any positive model of society and will serve us well as we seek to maximise the full developmental potential of our peoples in a sustainable manner,” he submitted.
In this regard, he said Guyana wishes to see more agreements, conventions and declarations that establish an enabling environment for the sustaining, promoting, harnessing and harvesting of culture.
“Culture is too important to be ignored and all of us must be advocates for its adequate consideration and inclusion in the post 2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals,” he suggested.
Minister Anthony thanked the UN family for its leadership on these important global issues and, in particular, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for its dedicated work on culture.
He expressed confidence that, with their continued advocacy and leadership, culture would find its rightful place in fostering sustainable development.
Those present for the thematic debate on culture and development, included President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Vuk Jeremic; UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki–Moon and Director General of UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova.
No ‘one size fits all’
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested that as member states “define the contours of a post-2015 development agenda, “they should ask two questions: what have we learnt since 2000?;  and what must we do better? He noted that there is no “one-size-fits-all” development model, and cultural settings should be taken into account. He said, “culture is now widely recognised as an enabler of sustainability, especially when a people-centred approach is integrated into development and peace-building,” and therefore the UNGA thematic debate on Culture and Development would be important for the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) review in September, which will take place during a special UNGA event.
In his statement at the opening of the event, UNGA President Vuk Jeremi recalled that, one year ago, Rio+20 adopted the ‘Future We Want’ document, in which for the “first time in history, member states agreed to comprehensively integrate the three dimensions of sustainable development—namely economic, social, and environmental—into a single, fully coherent whole.” He noted that the agreement gave the UNGA a mandate to craft “a new, ambitious universal framework that will define much of the UN’s work for decades to come,” and highlighted that fewer than 1,000 days remain to carry out these assignments, including developing and adopting the SDGs, designing options for financing them, and creating an arrangement to monitor their implementation. Jeremi said he thinks “that the significance of the nexus between culture and development for the post-2015 agenda is not yet fully grasped,” and that “creating solid and durable bridges between humanity’s cultures will help overcome many of the differences which manifestly stand in the way of moving decisively forward—as one diverse, yet unified family of nations—in the quest to achieve universal sustainability.”  He called on member states to prioritise the post-2015 agenda, and said “Its full implementation, in my view, may help draw the world’s cultures closer together, enabling them to grow increasingly secure with each other.”
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova highlighted that “Cultural diversity is also a source to find creative solutions to problems. It enhances critical thinking to challenge old models,” and she encouraged participants to “fully acknowledge this power of culture today as we shape a new global agenda to follow 2015.”