On December 16, the inaugural International Forum on Mutual Learning among Civilizations opened in Macao, bringing together global experts to discuss cultural dialogue in an increasingly fractured world.
Mario Santana Quintero, Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair on Digital Twins for World Heritage Conservation, emphasized the strategic choice of Macao as the host and shared a philosophy that connection and affection for other cultures are powerful deterrents to conflict.
"When you go to places and learn to love them, then you don't want to have threats or conflict with others," stated Mario Santana Quintero, framing cultural exchange as a fundamental tool for peace at a major international forum.
Quintero situated the forum's discussions within urgent global challenges. "Because we have many conflicts nowadays. We have threats to cultural heritage," he said, listing the dangers stemming from development, climate change, and threats or conflict.
Faced with these multifaceted risks, he posited dialogue as the essential response. "So I think it's an important point to have a dialogue. And I think that's the issue here," Quintero asserted.
His work with the UNESCO Chair focuses on using digital twin technology—creating precise virtual replicas—to document, monitor, and conserve heritage sites, a technical form of dialogue with the past that informs preservation for the future.
Reporter | Wu Caiqian
Article | Guo Chuhua
Script | Guo Chuhua
Cameraman | Qin Shaolong
Video | Guo Hongda
