A Bermuda heritage organisation is to strengthen its ties with the Slave Route Project driven by Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) to help to promote socially conscious travel to sites that are important and relevant to people of African descent.

The African Diaspora Heritage Trail Bermuda Foundation (ADHT) made the announcement in tandem with the launch of the UN’s International Decade for People of African Descent last month.

ADHT’s Bermuda Foundation aims to focus on educating locals and visitors, and to safeguard the core values of African cultures and history.

In Bermuda, more than 50 per cent of the population are of African descent, according to the 2010 Census.

ADHT said in a statement that it would “seek, during the course of the decade, to share the local heritage trail with locals and visitors as it finds ways to pursue the establishment of heritage trails linking diaspora traditions in Africa, North, South and Central America, Bermuda, the Caribbean, Europe and Canada by developing a network of collaborators who identify, build, finance, promote and market cultural heritage destinations. ADHT destinations will foster sustainable economic development, provide inspiring educational experiences, produce quality cultural products that expose visitors to authentic African diaspora history and culture, and motivate local populations to become active participants in the preservation and dissemination of their history and culture.”

The International Decade for People of African Descent will focus on strengthening national, regional and international action and co-operation in relation to the full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights by people of African descent.