The principle of this plan consists in making out of this World Heritage a center of cultural influence, and to revive hopes and motivations by reorganizing human activity on the individual, familial, professional and social level. Its establishment requires multidisciplinary skills (town and country planning, city planning, architecture, archaeology, etc).
The setting up of a regional planning and development program of Tyre and its surroundings is the most important starting point for the safeguard of Tyre. It will determine the zones likely to be the subject of rehabilitation, define the archeological zones, and allow to put the old city back on its feet, as well as to set up guidelines for Tyre's safeguard and finally propose the works to be undertaken. The city's master plan, which is currently in force, has to be updated in a way that takes into consideration the recent archeological discoveries, the new constructions and the recommendations of the different missions undertaken by UNESCO in Tyre since 1982.
The different campaigns that were successfully completed by UNESCO have already proven what the International cooperation can do to protect the cultural works of humanity.
In Tyre, the steadiness of the past makes it possible to hope for a harmonious urban, social and cultural development.
Tyre, a city open to the sea, a melting pot of civilizations certainly embodies the heritage of a very rich past, but it is above all a source of future inspiration.
Tyre's historical, cultural and archeological bequests make up a fundamental element of our culture and a richness without equal.
If we want the Tyre campaign to be a successful, we require an International mobilization.
Despite the considerable efforts the IAST has expended on the national and international levels, Tyre has suffered during the past 20 years irreversible damages.
The establishment of an archeological map, marked in a fundamental way with the zones to be protected and demarcating definitively and precisely the archeological zone of Tyre is crucial. This map must be realized first and foremost, and before halting the new planning program, in order to prevent opening to urbanization fields containing archeological remains.
In a June 2002 Decision, the World Heritage Committee recommends that the preparation of the map be integrated into the World Bank's Tyre development project, with the help, if necessary, of the World Heritage Fund.
The map will not only make possible the safeguarding of the Tyrian cultural heritage, but also a harmonious urban, economical and social development.
From 1991 onwards the Association has proposed to the UNESCO important projects of action for Tyre's protection, rehabilitation, and socio-cultural and economic development, which could fit into the program of the campaign.
