2412 news
Monday, 4 May 2015
On 4 May, on the occasion of her official visit to Estonia, the Director General, Ms Irina Bokova, gave a lecture at the Estonian Academy of Arts on “Attacks against Cultural Heritage – What can UNESCO do?”, in the presence of the Rector of the Academy Professor Signe Kivi, and the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Estonia to UNESCO, H.E. Mr Marten Kokk.
The lecture ...
2 min read
Monday, 4 May 2015
On 4 May, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, met with the Minister of Culture, Mr Indrek Saar.
The Minister congratulated UNESCO on the 70th anniversary of its creation, underlining the enduring importance of the Organisation today. He also thanked the Director-General for her leadership, also in reforming the Organisation, and in the strong cooperation with Estonia.
The ...
1 min read
Monday, 4 May 2015
From 4 to 5 May, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, is travelling to Estonia for an official visit, where she is expected to meet with a number of high level government officials including, the Minister of Foreign Affairs , Ms Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, the Deputy Secretary-General for Planning, Ministry for Education and Research, Ms Kadri Maasik, the Minister for Culture, Mr Indrek Saar, ...
1 min read
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Following an AWF-led great apes conservation workshop in Yaoundé scheduled from April 22nd to 23rd, the AWF will lead a trek initiative from April 25th to May 1st through the center of the Dja Faunal Reserve.
One team of rangers from Cameroon and other great apes sites in Central/West Africa will use this opportunity as a field training exercise. At the same time a second team will trek ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
The World Heritage Centre announces with profound sadness the passing on 28 April 2015 of Dr Ronald Van Oers, Vice Director of the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for Asia and the Pacific Region, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre based in Shanghai, and a colleague of the World Heritage Centre since 2000.
Ron was a brilliant professional in the field of heritage. He had a wealth of ...
1 min read
Monday, 27 April 2015
“As we are receiving more information from the ground, I am deeply aggrieved by the magnitude of human loss caused by the earthquake in Nepal. I am also shocked by its devastating impact on the unique cultural heritage in the country, in particular extensive and irreversible damage at the World Heritage site of Kathmandu Valley”, declared Irina Bokova, the Director-General of ...
1 min read
Monday, 27 April 2015
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, and the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Jürgen Stock, addressed members of the UN Security Council on “Combating the Destruction, Smuggling and Theft of Cultural Heritage” in countries where destruction of heritage, looting and illicit trafficking are used to fuel hatred and finance terrorism.
The meeting, convened by the Permanent Missions of ...
2 min read
Saturday, 25 April 2015
The Director-General, Irina Bokova, has expressed her profound sympathy to the government and people of Nepal after the devastating earthquake that struck the country.
“I wish to express my sincere condolences following the powerful earthquake that struck Nepal today, causing heavy loss of life and extensive damage, including to historic monuments and buildings of the Kathmandu Valley ...
Friday, 24 April 2015
The endangered chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos found at World Heritage sites in Africa and Asia underscore the importance of these forests and mountain ranges and are highlighted in an infographic released today by the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) and the World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Great ...
2 min read
Thursday, 23 April 2015
A screening of the movie “Virunga” was organized at UNESCO Headquarters, attended by a thousand people, in the framework of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of UNESCO and the United Nations International Earth Day.
The screening of the movie took place in the presence of the Director-General of UNESCO, Mrs Irina Bokova, H.E. Mr Bienvenu Lihota Ndjoli, Minister of Environment and ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
UNESCO could not conserve the Crown Jewels of the Ocean without support from public and private partner organizations around the world. In a world that is for 70% oceans, it seems fitting to honor the ocean’s most precious places on Earth Day. This year, we are celebrating Earth Day at a special event hosted in New York City by long-time partner Jaeger-LeCoultre.
“Through this partnership, ...
3 min read
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
[in French only] Les gestionnaires de Cidade Velha et de plusieurs villes de Cabo Verde, les communautés locales, les experts nationaux et internationaux en charge du patrimoine urbain se sont réunis à Cidade Velha du 15 au 17 avril 2015 pour discuter de l’approche centrée sur le Paysage urbain historique et de la manière dont elle peut contribuer à la gestion et la conservation durable de ...
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid Region: Local Facilitator, Albania
IUCN Programme Office for South-Eastern Europe (SEE) is seeking to recruit an experienced and enthusiastic candidate to join the IUCN SEE team working on the project “Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 14 April 2015
In 2008 the NGO “Collectif du patrimoine des Comores” launched an inventory and cultural mapping project of the architectural and urban heritage of the Sultanates of the Comoros, with technical and financial support from the World Heritage Centre within the framework of the France-UNESCO Cooperation Agreement.
The Comoros put the Historic Sultanates on their Tentative List in 2007.
In order ...
2 min read
Monday, 13 April 2015
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today denounced further destruction at the archeological site of Nimrud in Iraq, shown in graphic detail on a video circulating on social media channels.
“I condemn this mad, destructive act that accentuates the horror of the situation. It confirms that the terrorists are not only destroying representations of figures and bas-reliefs. With their hammers ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
H.E. Mr Kadir Topbas, Lord Mayor of Istanbul, visited UNESCO on the occasion of the Organization’s 70thanniversary, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the inscription of the Historic Areas of Istanbul on the World Heritage List.
On the occasion of his visit to UNESCO, the Lord Mayor of Istanbul participated in a round-table on heritage conservation in the face of the challenges of urban ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
The Philippines’ Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a spectacular reef system in the famed Coral Triangle. The park encompasses 970 km² of coral atolls and deep seas 92 nautical miles from the nearest inhabited island.
Managing this vast and remote area requires a focused management plan, and the Marine World Heritage Programme recently connected Site Manager Angelique Songco with Jon Day, ...
2 min read
Thursday, 2 April 2015
In the context of the recent escalation of hostilities in Bosra and Idlib, the UNESCO Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova, reiterates her call for the protection of Syria’s unique heritage.
“All Syrians must unite for the protection of their shared cultural heritage.” said the Director-General. “This heritage belongs to all Syrians and to all humanity. I call on all parties to refrain from ...
1 min read
Monday, 30 March 2015
The differences in culture might be as big as the ocean between them, but Australia and Ecuador are home to two of the world’s best-known natural wonders. Site managers at the Galapagos Islands and Great Barrier Reef are entrusted with the care of vast areas that are vital for wildlife and treasured by people. UNESCO’s World Heritage Marine Programme facilitated an exchange bringing staff ...
3 min read
Saturday, 28 March 2015
UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, launched #Unite4Heritage at Baghdad University – a social media campaign to counter the propaganda of cultural cleansing and the destruction of cultural heritage, to support Iraqi youth and to mobilise young people across the world for its protection. The launch took place in front of students, government ministers and university officials.
“Today, we ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Ngorongoro Conservation Area joins Lake Malawi National Park, Maloti-Drakensberg Park (South Africa and Lesotho) and Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe) in strategic planning for sustainable tourism.
The first capacity building workshop in sustainable tourism for the World Heritage site managers, community representatives and tourism industry stakeholders was held at the ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and French President Francois Hollande today sent a strong message of solidarity to the people of Iraq and Syria, and reiterated the urgent need to safeguard cultural heritage of both countries.
President Hollande and the Director-General Bokova met at the Louvre Museum in Paris, which houses several major works reflecting the splendid cultural ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today condemned the deadly attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, and expressed her support and solidarity with Tunisia and the families of the victims. Ms Bokova spoke of the assault during a meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The two leaders were addressing media on the destruction of cultural heritage by ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
“The Elephant Collaring Project Team” from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is an initiative which aims at strengthening the safeguarding of elephants using radio tracking with specially designed elephant collars. The Park’s goal is to reach 120,000 USD in donations, within 10 weeks.
Donate now to Virunga National Park to reinforce vital resources needed to ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
The first management planning workshop in a series of five will take place on 25 and 26 March 2015 in the Korça region, Albania. The workshop is carried out in the framework of the 36-month European Union-funded project “Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid region”.
The project is designed to address the main threats ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Upcoming 39th session due to take place in Bonn, Germany.
The annual highlight for the World Heritage community is drawing near: From 28 June to 8 July approx. 1200 delegates, observers and NGO-representatives from 191 countries will gather in Bonn, Germany, to attend the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee. During its session last year in Doha, Qatar, the Committee elected Minister ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
UNESCO, in partnership with the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA), the Japanese National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH), ICCROM and ICOMOS has organized a special session on "Resilient Cultural Heritage" within the framework of the Third United Nations World Conference Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), which has taken place between 14 and 18 March at Sendai, Japan.
The ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Since the beginning of the conflict in Iraq, in addition to the tragic loss of human life and the humanitarian crisis associated to the persecution of cultural and religious minorities, cultural heritage has been the target of intentional destruction. The goal has clearly been to erase the history of the country along with the identities and diversity of its people.
UNESCO Director-General ...
3 min read
Monday, 9 March 2015
Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office and Chair of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee Maria Böhmer issued the following statement in Berlin on 9 March following the destruction of Iraqi artefacts in Nimrud by the terrorist group ISIS:
“The ongoing barbaric attacks perpetrated by the ISIS terrorist group in Iraq are devastating. In particular the abductions in Tikrit, the burning ...
1 min read
Saturday, 7 March 2015
Since the beginning of the conflict in Iraq, in addition to the tragic loss of human life and the humanitarian crisis associated to the persecution of cultural and religious minorities, cultural heritage has been the target of intentional destruction, with the aim of erasing the history of the country and thus undermining the peaceful coexistence of diverse communities.
Attacks against the ...
1 min read
Friday, 6 March 2015
“I condemn in the strongest possible manner the destruction of the archaeological site of Nimrud site in Iraq. This is yet another attack against the Iraqi people, reminding us that nothing is safe from the cultural cleansing underway in the country: it targets human lives, minorities, and is marked by the systematic destruction of humanity’s ancient heritage,” said UNESCO Director General ...
2 min read
Saturday, 28 February 2015
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has welcomed the UN Security Council's statement denouncing the attack on the Mosul Museum.
"This statement is a strong testiment to the unity of the international community regarding the tragic destruction of irreplaceable heritage for all mankind," said the Director-General. "The members of the Security Council have reaffirmed the deep ...
1 min read
Saturday, 28 February 2015
"The reopening of the Baghdad Museum is a powerful symbol, coming in the wake of the destruction perpetrated in Mosul. To fight violent extremism and attacks against cultural heritage, we need more than ever to nurture the power of culture, supporting its fundamental role for dialogue and for social cohesion in Iraq and around the world."
"I welcome this historic reopening, coming just a few ...
1 min read
Friday, 27 February 2015
"It is time to get serious about wildlife crime"
This year’s theme for World Wildlife Day is right in line with one of the key goals of the World Heritage Convention: protecting sites which are home to threatened plant and animal species.
These invaluable sites are threatened more than ever, and illegal human activities such as poaching and illegal logging are some of the most worrisome. ...
2 min read
Friday, 27 February 2015
“I was filled with dismay by images of the attack on the Mosul Museum, as well as on other archaeological sites in the Nineveh region in Iraq,” said the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. She spoke at a press conference following the release of a video showing the devastation of the Mosul Museum in Iraq.
Terrorists based in Iraq defaced many statues and bas-reliefs with an ...
1 min read
Thursday, 26 February 2015
“I am deeply shocked by footage released today showing the destruction of statues and other artefacts of the Mosul Museum. I condemn this as a deliberate attack against Iraq’s millennial history and culture, and as an inflammatory incitement to violence and hatred,” said the Director General.
“This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy – this is also a security issue as it fuels ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
A major international conference was organized by ICOMOS Oman at Dhofar University in Salalah, Sultanate of Oman to review archaeological heritage identification, management, and conservation, and to explore new approaches.
Among the participants were experts from different parts of the world, representatives from Ministries and heritage agencies, Ambassadors of UNESCO Member States, the ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Established as a Category II Centre under the auspices of UNESCO in October 2009, the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) is an inter-governmental organisation which was jointly initiated by the African Members States of UNESCO and the African Union.
Its mission is to support the effective conservation and protection of natural and cultural heritage of outstanding universal value in Africa. ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Prior to the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee, a Young Experts Forum will be held from 18 to 29 June 2015 in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage site and in Bonn, former capital of Germany. Young heritage experts from around the world from 20 to 30 years old will exchange ideas and provide input to the theme of this year’s Forum Towards a Sustainable Management of World ...
3 min read
Thursday, 12 February 2015
The Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, welcomed the adoption of a new UN Security Council Resolution 2199 that condemns the destruction of cultural heritage and adopts legally-binding measures to counter illicit trafficking of antiquities and cultural objects from Iraq and Syria.
“The adoption of resolution 2199 is a milestone for enhanced protection of cultural heritage in Iraq ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Over 900 participants, including over 45 Ministers and Vice Ministers of Tourism and Culture, international experts, speakers and guests from 100 countries, gathered at the UNWTO/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to explore and advance new partnership models between tourism and culture (4-6 February 2015).
Tourism, moving more than one billion people ...
4 min read
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
With support from UNESCO’s World Heritage Marine Programme, the Banc d’Arguin National Park in Mauritania organized a series of educational activities for students from four local schools who are located in the park.
Throughout 2014, about 100 students participated in three-day excursions in which they learned about the biodiversity, the socioeconomic importance of the Park and the need to ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
The secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is currently recruiting a Director General (DG).
SPREP is the regional organisation established by the Governments and Administrations of the Pacific charged with protecting and managing the environment and natural resources of the Pacific. It is based in Apia, Samoa, with about 95 staff and an annual budget of USD $20 ...
Friday, 6 February 2015
On Wednesday, 28 January, the cargo ship Floreana stranded near San Cristobal, an island that is part of the Galápagos islands World Heritage site.
The vessel transported 1,400 tons of cargo and 50,000 liters of fuel among other, potentially hazardous, products. Accordingly to early government reports, products leaked from the ship. Actions are being taken to define the impacts on the marine ...
1 min read
Friday, 6 February 2015
The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Maps with the generous support of Germany, can now be ordered for a modest fee from the World Heritage Centre website.
The featured image on the Map presents the Upper Middle Rhine Valley in Germany, country hosting the next session of the World Heritage Committee in June ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Since their first agreement signed in 2011, UNESCO and Panasonic have worked together to educate young people about protecting natural and cultural heritage. Long-term success of the program depends on the children of today, hence their involvement is of key importance.
As part of the cooperation with UNESCO, Panasonic China hosted 50 pupils and teachers in a school excursion from 3 to 6 ...
1 min read
Monday, 2 February 2015
World heritage site managers and tourism stakeholders from Zambia and Zimbabwe came together for the first time to initiate the process to develop a sustainable tourism strategy for the Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls World Heritage site. The workshop was held in Livingstone, Zambia from 22 to 24 January 2015.
The workshop takes place within the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage and ...
2 min read
Monday, 2 February 2015
Issue 74 of World Heritage magazine
World Heritage sites are exposed to a wide variety of natural and human-induced hazards, such as earthquakes, cyclones or fires, which can have devastating effects on their value as well as on the lives and assets of the communities concerned. This issue explores the risks that sites are exposed to and different aspects of disaster risk management, ...
Friday, 30 January 2015
Storage conditions of ancient manuscripts smuggled out of Timbuktu to Bamako in 2012 must be improved rapidly to avoid decay, concluded participants at an international conference, held from 28 to 30 January in the national capital. They also called for the adoption of an emergency plan to preserve the manuscripts in the long-term.
The conference was attended by academics; representatives of ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
From 22 to 24 January 2015, UNESCO, in cooperation with the Vietnamese authorities, hosted a workshop on World Heritage and sustainable development at the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex in Viet Nam.
The workshop responded to the request by the World Heritage Committee at its 36th session in Saint Petersburg to develop a policy on the integration of sustainable development into the ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Following a week-long constructive discussion with UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and IUCN, the government of Belize agreed to start talks on critical conservation challenges related to the removal of the Belize Barrier Reef from the World Heritage List in Danger.
From 19-23 January 2015, UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the International Union for the Conservation of ...
2 min read
Thursday, 22 January 2015
2 February each year is World Wetlands Day.
It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Nearly two years after armed groups occupied northern Mali and destroyed cultural heritage there, an international conference will take place in the capital, Bamako, from 28 to 30 January to examine the long-term conservation of the country’s invaluable ancient manuscript collections.
UNESCO’s Office in Bamako, Mali’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ahmed Baba ...
2 min read
