Natural & Cultural Hertiage is the identity of our roots.

In simple words cultural heritage means to preserve the culture, art, buildings, languages, knowledge, traditions, & much more things that we got from our ancestors or past generation.

Natural Heritage means, the conservation of things, which are from nature or mother earth like soil, water, plants, natural landscape, animals & much more that we get from natural environment. Both the hertiage, are of equally importance. Cultural heritage shows us, the roots of our ancestors. Natural Heritage shows us the importance of nature in our lives.

Conservation of both are equally important. As both the natural & cultural heritage are losing their identity as it used to be in earlier time. No proper preservation is seen for this heritage. Heritage are those valuable things/places that we have got from our elders & that has helped us to create our today's life. But preserving & conserving those things comes under our duty. Yes, it is duty of every single citizen of the country. As the same way we get the things from our past generation we all need to forward the same to our future generation as they all will also need the things for their living.

Indian government is also taking strong iniciatives for preservation of our heritage. As well as the government has taken many steps for preserving the importance of natural & cultural monuments in our country. As they have made many of the schemes for it. Even each state has started it's own tourism with in coordination of their government. Which shows that slowly & gradually people are thinking about their hertiage & taking a step towards it.

With a single step towards it we can achieve many things one by one. The government tourism make such an attractive advertisement so people get attracted & wish to visited that place once. But at that time its our responsibility that we have to conserve it & do not harm or steal anything from there. As a citizen of the country it is our duty to save our heritage. Even we have to keep environment clean while being at that place.

Let's see that how we can preserve our Heritage:
- Learn things about religious traditions
- Follow our traditions & taking part in it
- Attending the major event which show cases the importance of our heritage
- Visiting museums
- Knowing the history behind an incident & passing it to other
- Tourism development near natural & cultural heriage sites
- Showing its beauty through mass media

Ministry of Culture's (MoC) few Schemes for preserving Heritage:
- Scheme of financial assistance for promotion of art & culture
- Museum grant scheme
- Scheme for safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage
- Spocs scheme for promotion of culture of science
- Scheme for promoting international cultural realtions

Responsibility & importance for preservation Heritage:
- It is fundamental duty of each citizen to value & preserve the rich heritage of our culture.
- It is very important as it has different art & architecture that shows the glory of our country.
- Being a responsible citizen one can even conducts workshops for showing the presevation importance of our heritage.
- It shows us the value of history & culture.
- Sustainable development
- Historical significance
- It is each citizen duty to preserve it & promote it positive way.

Few Organisations, working on protecting Heritage, with whom IISD is partnering / collaborating for Natural as well as Cultural Heritage Conservation
1. UNESCO
2. INTACH (India National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage)
3. Kalamandir
4. INHCRF (Indian Numismatic Historical & Cultural Research Foundation)
5. Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation
6. Sanskriti Foundation
7. Himalayan Voice
8. Craft Revival Trust
9. Center for Cultural Resources & Training.

................
Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources.

Hritage is that which is inherited from past generations, maintained in the present, and bestowed to future generations. The term "natural heritage", derived from "natural inheritance", pre-dates the term "Biodiversity." It is a less scientific term and more easily comprehended in some ways by the wider audience interested in conservation.

The term was used in this context in the United States when Jimmy Carter set up the Georgia Heritage Trust, while he was governor of Georgia; Carter's trust dealt with both natural and cultural heritage. It would appear that Carter picked the term up from Lyndon Johnson, who used it in a 1966 Message to Congress. (He may have gotten the term from his wife Lady Bird Johnson, who was personally interested in conservation.) President Johnson signed the Wilderness Act of 1964.

The term "Natural Heritage" was picked up by the Science Division of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) when, under Robert E. Jenkins, Jr., it launched in 1974 what ultimately became the network of state natural heritage programs -- one in each state, all using the same methodology and all supported permanently by state governments because they scientifically document conservation priorities and facilitate science-based environmental reviews. When this network was extended outside the United States, the term "Conservation Data Center " was suggested by Guillermo Mann and came to be preferred for programs outside the US. Despite the name difference, these programs, too, use the same core methodology as the 50 state natural heritage programs. In 1994 The network of natural heritage programs formed a membership association to work together on projects of common interest: the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI). In 1999, Through an agreement with The Nature Conservancy, ABI expanded and assumed responsibility for the scientific databases, information, and tools developed by TNC in support of the network of natural heritage programs. In 2001, ABI changed its name to NatureServe. NatureServe continues to serve as the hub of the NatureServe Network, a collaboration of 86 governmental and non-governmental programs including natural heritage programs and conservation data centers located in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.