04004 - Major Programme IV builds on advances made in the recognition of cultural diversity for the sustainable development of peoples and societies, placing emphasis on a holistic approach to the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage in all its forms, tangible and intangible. The principal priority for the biennium – promoting cultural diversity, with special emphasis on the tangible and intangible heritage to which it is proposed to continue to assign 62% of the overall amount of resources devoted to programme activities excluding cross-cutting theme projects – highlights the domain in which UNESCO’s cultural action demonstrates pertinence, recognized expertise, comparative advantage and visibility. Overall, this concentration of MP IV is expressed through a more coherent, focused and limited number of priorities. In the process of prioritizing and focusing the programme on UNESCO’s comparative advantage, certain activities have been reduced or discontinued under the "other priorities", such as for example the support to festivals and the arts.

04007 - Programme activities will be developed in line with three of UNESCO’s core functions (i.e. advocacy, capacity-building, standard-setting) through heritage protection, rehabilitation and safeguarding, through the effective implementation of cultural policies and through the development of sustainable cultural industries in Member States.

04009 - To bolster cooperation in the domain of cultural heritage, MP IV fosters heritage preservation building on the integrated holistic approach developed during the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage (2002). Heritage protection, rehabilitation and safeguarding will include the implementation and monitoring of normative instruments. At the Secretariat level, the capacities of the World Heritage Centre have been strengthened both through an internal restructuring and a budgetary reinforcement, thereby giving added impetus to World Heritage and the monitoring of the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The reinforcement is intended to improve project delivery as well as to strengthen the operational and managerial capacities in support of World Heritage. At national and subregional levels – especially in Africa and the least developed countries – efforts will be intensi. ed to harness national expertise and build capacities in heritage conservation and management. Efforts will be undertaken to secure extrabudgetary resources and form new partnerships, which will also contribute to a better balance among geographic, cultural and natural heritage sites. Budgetary and staffing reinforcement has likewise been accorded to activities pertaining to intangible cultural heritage, notably the promotion of the 2003 Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage.

04012 - Intersectoral action will be undertaken with respect to tangible and intangible cultural heritage; natural heritage; environment and risk preparedness; the nexus of cultural and biological diversity; culturally sensitive HIV/AIDS prevention targeting particularly women and youth; as well as crafts and design. The promotion of cultural diversity in education and sustainable environmental management, multilingualism and cultural heritage education will receive specific attention. Targeted efforts shall be devoted to multidisciplinary pilot activities directed at the sustainable development of small island developing States.