News

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

Once again this year Earthwatch is offering funded training and mentoring in organisational and business management practices to protected areas in Africa. The application period is now open until 27th February 2015. The Programme is looking to recruit 6 protected areas, who will each nominate 3 members of staff for training during a 10 day residential training course in October 2015. This ...

Internship Opportunities in South Africa and Benin, from 1 April until 30 September 2015. Two internships will run in 2015, one at the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) in Midrand (South Africa) and one at EPA in Porto-Novo (Benin). AWHF was launched in 2006 to support African State Parties in implementing the UNESCO Convention on the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. ...

On 14 January 2015, a fire has once again ravaged the Palace of the King Houégbadja in the Royal Palaces of Abomey World Heritage property in Benin. Thankfully there were no victims. Despite the efforts of firefighters, all of the thatched roofs of the palace complex were burned. As they were built from fire-resistant earthen architecture, the walls of the palace buildings were spared. The ...

In the framework of the France-UNESCO Cooperation Agreement (an agreement for the protection and enhancement of monumental, urban and natural heritage, between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Government of France) UNESCO has technical and financial assistance at their disposal through the following Ministries of France: Ministry of Culture and ...

Nainoa Thompson and the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage (sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines) are embarking on a 3-year trip that will take them to 13 marine World Heritage sites. The voyage is taking place with Hōkūle'a and Hikianalia, sister canoes who are both sailing on parallel sail plans in 2015-2017. UNESCO and the Polynesian Voyaging Society signed a partnership agreement that will ...

The National Park Service's newest online travel itinerary highlights the 22 World Heritage sites located in the United States. The project includes fun facts and interesting background information about sites across the country, from the Statue of Liberty to Hawaii Volcanoes, which have universal significance. The World Heritage sites in the United States itinerary is the 60th in the ...