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Although these are functional monocultures, in the Tobacco also thrives in less fertile soil, so it is a welcome
case of China, part of the Outstanding Universal Value is alternative crop for farmers. In the few countries where
the fact that an effective combination of fish and duck tobacco is grown on a large scale, tobacco leaves are
farming is maintained in this landscape. Hops in the already harvested mechanically. However, manual leaf
nominated Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is not harvesting is more common, and it is in the Vinales Valley
combined with any other crops or animal husbandry, that it is a maintained (indeed, a purposefully renewed)
these are flat areas. practice. The grower undertakes harvesting over a period
of two to four months, gradually harvesting two to four
In both cases, the OUV also includes the traditional leaves from each plant as they ripen. This distinguishes
culture of local ethnic groups, which is by no means this harvest from the one-off removal of hop bines from
a characteristic relevant to Žatec and the Landscape of the supporting structures. After the harvest, however,
Saaz Hops, which is part of the Czech Republic, which a complex drying process begins in the countryside (as
is a highly secularized civil society with a high ratio of performed until recently in the Žatec region), and in
industrial production and where agricultural production the case of tobacco these processes require excellent
and crop processing for many decades have followed organization of the activities of small farmers. The
pragmatic practices aimed at moving most activities to method and consistency of the drying procedures is the
the natural urban centre of the local hop heritage, i.e. the most important factor determining the final aroma of the
town of Žatec. tobacco, (which is also similar to maintaining the quality
of hops after harvesting). However, the drying of tobacco
3. APATANI CULTURAL LANDSCAPE (TL) leaves is completely different, when allowing for the size
The Apatani cultural landscape is an example of the of the leaves and their only gradual collection. Tobacco
use of a limited area that has developed on the basis drying takes several forms (natural air circulation, hot
of a century of experimentation. There are separate air, in the sun, even with the help of fire, which is more of
areas here for human settlement, wet rice cultivation, "smoking").
dry cultivation, burial grounds, pine and bamboo
gardens, private plantations and community forests. It Thus, the drying of tobacco and the gradually added
is an example of a highly successful human adaptation bundles of collected leaves takes several weeks, in
mechanism in unfavourable mountain regions and is thus contrast to the drying of hops; natural drying is still
of exceptional value. preferred. Cuba is characterized by manual workshops
for the production of its sought-after cigars from dried 199
The Apatani still use traditional methods for making and otherwise processed tobacco leaves.
use of natural resources which are well known for their
sustainability. Exceptional value therefore lies in the 1. VIÑALES VALLEY (WHL)
examples. Despite the limited water resources, the Vinales is located in the Sierra de los Organos, almost 200
entire cultivated area in the valley is well connected by km west of the Cuban capital in the province of Pinar del
a network of carefully designed irrigation canals. Río. The Vinales Valley is made up of several long valleys
divided by limestone mountain massifs of rounded
A specific of the Apatani cultural landscape is the shapes overgrown with tropical vegetation, the so-called
combined growing model and above all a very gentle Mogotá. The valley lies at an altitude of 300 to 400 metres.
approach to the management of natural resources, In the era of the Mesozoic Jurassic, this area was part of
complemented by the distinctive and exceptional culture the seabed and in more recent history has undergone
of the ethnic minority from this area. The landscape is a tectonic uplift. Subsequently, unique natural features
entirely different from a hop landscape, having no urban were formed within it, making up an important part of
component to contribute to the Outstanding Universal the visual characteristics of the landscape.
Value. It is subject in a major way to the life of local
communities, which have based their complex economy The indigenous peoples have been growing tobacco
on the rice terraces. in Cuba since time immemorial. However, tobacco
plantations for commercial purposes were only
introduced here by the Spanish colonizers at the end
III. TOBACCO PLANTATIONS of the 16 century. At that time, a large part of Cuba
th
One of the few widely grown crops that requires careful was uninhabited, so the colonizing authorities offered
drying after harvest is tobacco leaves grown in tobacco immigrants various benefits. A group of immigrants from
fields, which are represented by the Cuban site of The the Canary Islands, who settled in the western part of
Viñales Valley on the World Heritage List. Although the Cuba (in the registered locality), was selected for tobacco
Outstanding Universal Value of this property is co-created work. The first settlements and, in time, towns were
by the extraordinary morphology of the valley with its established. Farmers also used slave labour for the work.
specific geological formations (the so-called mogota), the
main valued crop of the valley is clearly tobacco and its The Viñales Valley, is an emblematic cultural landscape
associated landscape and architectural heritage. of the island state of Cuba, symbolizing the cultivation