Today, UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre released the first global scientific assessment of climate change impacts on World Heritage coral reefs. Soaring ocean temperatures in the past three years have subjected 21 of 29 World Heritage reefs to severe and/or repeated heat stress, and caused some of the worst bleaching ever observed at iconic sites like the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, deplores the destruction of the Al Nuree Mosque and Al Hadba Minaret in Mosul. “The Al Hadba Minaret and Al Nuree Mosque in Mosul were among the most iconic sites in the city, and stood as a symbol of identity, resilience and belonging. When Daesh targeted the mosque and minaret a few month ago, the people of Mosul formed a human chain to protect ...

The World Heritage Committee will assess the nomination of 34 sites for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during its 41st session, which will be chaired by Jacek Purchla, founder and director of the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, the Polish city that will host the session from 2 to 12 July. This year’s nominations for inscription on the World Heritage List number seven ...

At its 41st session to be held in Krakow, Poland, from 2 to 12 July 2017, the World Heritage Committee will examine the state of conservation of 154 World Heritage properties.  The full reports on these properties are now publicly available through the World Heritage Centre’ State of conservation Information System at the following Web address: http://whc.unesco.org/en/soc As part of the ...

From 17 to 19 May 2017, thanks to the support of the Thai Government, the International Consultation Workshop on World Heritage of Religious Interest focused on Asia-Pacific Region was organized within the framework of the UNESCO Initiative on Heritage of Religious Interest. The meeting was attended by the States Parties’ representatives from Kingdom of Bhutan, People’s Republic of China, ...

New York, NY – 8 June. HSH Prince Albert of Monaco II was the first to sign The Ocean Pledge launched by youth from UNESCO World Heritage Marine sites at the United Nations. He was joined by, Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO as well as Adrian Grenier United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment. The pledge, which reads ‘I pledge to protect the ocean for future ...

The World Heritage Centre has taken due note of the concerns expressed by various stakeholders concerning the Western Sydney Airport project, located in the vicinity of the World Heritage property ‘Greater Blue Mountains Area (Australia) and appreciates their commitment to the safeguarding of World Heritage. In the framework of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, and in line with its ...

Connecting People with Nature It may seem hard to believe now, but, fifty years ago, it was thought the best way to protect nature was to make it off-limits to the human population… Today, we know better. We now know that the closer the relationship between people and their natural environment the more likely people are to appreciate the importance of nature and its biodiversity, heritage ...