News

Given the current rate of poaching, children from West or Central Africa will one day speak of elephants and rhinoceros as we speak of mammoths: as magnificent creatures belonging to the past. Over recent years, the massacre of wild species has reached an industrial scale, in particular the poaching of animals for their ivory. In Gabon alone, some 11,000 elephants have been killed illegally ...

For the first time, the Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems brought together all the local communities actively involved in the management of this exceptional marine World Heritage site from 5 to 6 July. The local management committees are unique in their endeavor to include the local population in the management of the lagoons in a very comprehensive ...

H.E. Gürcan Balik, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Turkey to UNESCO, and Kishore Rao, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, on 17 July signed a Plan of Operations for a $1.2 million project to safeguard the Turkish World Heritage site of Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia. H. E. Mr Isao Kiso, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Japan was also ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has expressed deep shock at news of further destruction to cultural heritage in Syria, and particularly following the publication of media reports and images depicting damage to the Crac des Chevaliers, one of Syria’s World Heritage sites. These two castles are outstanding examples of the region’s fortified architecture developed ...

The French Grand Sites Network and its International Training and Exchange Centre for Francophone Heritage Sites Managers organized recently an “Exchange Workshop on management and valorization of paleo-metallurgical sites”. From the 20th to the 24th of May 2013, this workshop gathered sixteen managers of patrimonial sites and paleo-metallurgical experts of Western Africa and ...

On 6th May 2013, the creation of a “Rivers and heritage” UNESCO Chair was approved by UNESCO. This project stems from a partnership between the University François Rabelais in Tours (France), the University of Angers (France) and the Mission Val de Loire which is the management body of the Val de Loire site World Heritage site. The creation of a UNESCO chair is part of the ...

New excavations within the Maya Devi Temple of Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal, have revealed evidence of a series of shrines extending the history of the site to a much earlier date than previously known. Until now, the earliest Buddhist temples have been attributed to Emperor Ashoka, who in the 3rd century BC spread Buddhism across the region, as evidenced by his Pillar and ...

Some 500 of the 1400 participants of the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee made the journey from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap and visited the Terrace of the Elephants at Angkor Thom ahead of the closing ceremony of the event. The stone elephants that flank the impressive platform built some eight centuries ago by Angkor's King Jayavarman VII for public ceremonies were surrounded by ...

Two new sites and one extension to a Polish site were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on Sunday afternoon, bringing to 19 the total number of sites added to the List during the 37th session taking place in Phnom Penh. The latest inscriptions are: Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, (Germany) Descending a long hill dominated by a giant statue of Hercules, the monumental water ...

After 16 years of excavation and restoration work, a group of tower temples and monuments belonging to the My Son Sanctuary, once the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom, were inaugurated by the Director-General with Vietnamese authorities and the Ambassador of Italy to Viet Nam on 22 June. Under steady rainfall, dancers and musicians lined the path leading through lush ...

The World Heritage Committee inscribed the following three sites on Sunday morning: Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora (Ukraine). The site features the remains of a city founded by Dorian Greeks in the 5th century BC on the northern shores of the Black Sea. It encompasses six component sites with urban remains and agricultural lands divided into several hundreds of chora, ...

The World Heritage Committee has inscribed a site of rice terraces in Yunnan (China) and an extension to the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park which is now known as the mixed cultural and natural Maloti Drakensberg Tranboundary World Heritage Site (Lesotho and South Africa). Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China The Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China covers ...

Qatar and Fiji had their first World Heritage sites inscribed during the afternoon session of the World Heritage Committee on Saturday, as the intergovernmental body added six properties to UNESCO’s World Heritage List Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration (Japan) The beauty of the solitary, often snow-capped, stratovolcano, known around the world as Mount Fuji, ...

China’s Xinjiang Tianshan and Namib Sand Sea (Namibia) were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on Friday. Mount Kenya-Lewa Wildlife conservancy (Kenya), was also inscribed as an extension  to Mount Kenya Natural Park / Natural Forest. Xinjiang Tianshan (China) Xinjiang Tianshan (China) comprises four components—Tomur, Kalajun-Kuerdening, Bayinbukuke and ...

The World Heritage Committee has inscribed natural sites from Tajikistan, Italy, and Mexico on the World Heritage List. Tajikistan National Park (Mountains of the Pamirs) (Tajikistan) Tajikistan National Park (Tajikistan) covers more than 2.5 million hectares in the east of the country, at the centre of the so-called “Pamir Knot”, a meeting point of the highest mountain ranges ...

The World Heritage Committee today inscribed two new cultural World Heritage sites, one in India and the other astride the border of Poland and Ukraine. Hill Forts of Rajasthan (India) The serial site, situated in the state of Rajastahan, includes six majestic forts in Chittorgarh; Kumbhalgarh; Sawai Madhopur; Jhalawar; Jaipur, and Jaisalmer. The ecclectic architecture of the forts, some up ...

The World Heritage Committee has decided to place the six World Heritage sites of the Syrian Arab Republic on the List of World Heritage in Danger so as to draw attention to the risks they are facing because of the situation in the country. The danger listing is intended to mobilize all possible support for the safeguarding of these properties which are recognized by the international ...

The World Heritage Youth Forum, Cambodia 2013 was held at the site of Angkor, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 8 to 16 June 2013, in conjunction with the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee. The event gathered 36 youth representatives from 16 countries, including 20 from Cambodia. The World Heritage Youth Forum aimed at raising awareness among young people about the ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre, in partnership with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and in collaboration with the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA) and the Ministry of Arts and Culture of Mauritius, is organising a month-long field training project on risk management at World Heritage sites from the 19 August 2013 to 13 September 2013 at the Aapravasi Ghat and Le Morne ...

UNESCO and Panasonic Corporation announced the renewal of their strategic partnership agreement today. The new agreement will run for two years from June 2013 to May 2015. The strategic framework agreement was signed by UNESCO Director-General, Ms. Irina Bokova and Senior Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation, Mr. Takumi Kajisha, on June 18, 2013, in Phnom Penh in the Kingdom ...