The Government of Piedmont has said it will support a campaign calling for UNESCO to recognize the Occitan language as World Heritage. On August 26, the Regional Council approved a "Proposal for the inclusion of the Occitan language on UNESCO's World Heritage list". The document was drafted by Chambra d'Òc, a major pro-Occitan organization based in the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont.

Just over two weeks ago, Chambra d'Òc launched its "Occitania a pè" campaign, a two-month long journey on foot across the entire Occitan-speaking domain, which has the slogan "Occitan: Humanity's World Heritage". The Regional Council has responded to the campaign by pledging to support efforts "to protect and recognize the value of Occitan language and culture" and carry out "homogeneous and synergic action across the [Occitan-speaking] territory".

The Piedmont executive has also promised "to implement measures to get Occitan included" on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Once again, then, the Piedmont Government has shown that its stance on defending and protecting the Occitan language is one of the most favourable, together with that of the Aran Valley Government, of all public bodies.

As well as in the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and the Aran Valley, Occitan is spoken across a large part of southern France. With an estimated 1,000,000 to 3,700,000 speakers, Occitan is one of Europe's most spoken marginalized languages.

Further information:

• Minoranze Linguistiche: Il Piemonte sostiene l'inserimento dell'occitano nel patrimonio mondiale immateriale UNESCO
• Chambra d'Òc
• Piedmont Region
• Vilaweb: Caminada per l'occità