2388 news
Monday, 8 July 2019
The World Heritage Policy Compendium - a consolidated source of policy decisions made under the Convention - is now online.
The World Heritage Policy Compendium is a collection of policies that have guided the implementation of the World Heritage Convention since its adoption in 1972. It assembles the policies adopted by the World Heritage Committee and General Assembly of States Parties in ...
1 min read
Sunday, 7 July 2019
During its meeting in Baku this afternoon, the World Heritage Committee, inscribed two cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, ending this year’s inscriptions on the List.
The newly added sites, by order of inscription:
Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene (Italy) — Located in north-eastern Italy, the site includes part of the vinegrowing landscape of the Prosecco ...
2 min read
Sunday, 7 July 2019
During its meeting in Baku this morning, the World Heritage Committee inscribed six cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The newly inscribed sites are located in Azerbaijan, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Spain, and the UK. Inscriptions will continue in the afternoon.
New sites, by order of inscription:
Royal Building of Mafra—Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and ...
4 min read
Saturday, 6 July 2019
During its meeting in Baku this afternoon, the World Heritage Committee inscribed seven cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The sites added this afternoon are located in Canada, Czechia, Germany, Republic of Korea, Myanmar and Poland. Inscriptions will continue tomorrow, 7 July.
New sites, by order of inscription:
Bagan (Myanmar) — Lying on a bend of the Ayeyarwady River in the ...
4 min read
Saturday, 6 July 2019
During the morning session of its current meeting, in Baku, the World Heritage Committee inscribed seven cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The sites added to the List are situated in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and People’s Democratic Republic of Lao. Inscriptions will continue through 7 July.
New sites, by order of inscription:
Dilmun Burial Mounds ...
4 min read
Friday, 5 July 2019
During its morning session, the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Baku until 10 July, inscribed two natural sites in China and in the Islamic Republic of Iran on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List:
Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) (China)—The site features an intertidal mudflat system considered to be the largest in the world. These ...
1 min read
Friday, 5 July 2019
The World Heritage Committee inscribed five new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List this afternoon. Among them are two natural sites, one in France and one in Iceland, a mixed, i.e. natural and cultural, site in Brazil and two cultural sites in Burkina Faso and Iraq. The Committee also approved the extension of the transboundary natural and cultural heritage site of the Ohrid region ...
4 min read
Thursday, 4 July 2019
On 4 July 2019, a special event devoted to the theme "Qhapaq Ñan, Sharing experiences and good practices" brought together representatives of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru with the aim of sharing their collaborative achievements in management and conservation of this serial and transboundary World Heritage site.
Participants presented concrete and important results ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
During the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee currently taking place until 10 July in Baku (Azerbaijan), four decisions concerning the Middle East were adopted by consensus, after constructive discussions between all delegations involved including Israel, Jordan and Palestine, and mediation by the UNESCO Secretariat.
In her opening statement to the Committee, UNESCO ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Baku since 30 June, has decided to inscribe the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California (Mexico) on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to concerns about the imminent extinction of the vaquita, an endemic porpoise in the Gulf of California.
Mexico has made efforts to protect these threatened species, notably by creating a refuge for ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Baku since 30 June, today decided to remove the Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine) from the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Committee said its decision was due to the high quality of work carried out on the Nativity Church, the restoration of its roof, exterior facades, mosaics and ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Baku since 30 June, decided to remove the site of Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (Chile) from the List of World Heritage in Danger thanks to the national authorities’ measures to ensure its sustainable conservation and management.
The Saltpeter Works were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005 and, simultaneously, on the List of ...
2 min read
Sunday, 30 June 2019
The opening ceremony of this year’s session of the World Heritage Committee was held on 30 June at the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, marking the start of the Committee’s work, scheduled to continue until 10 July.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay welcomed the enthusiasm for World Heritage and “its exceptional ability to bring people together.” She urged “respect for the spirit of the ...
2 min read
Thursday, 27 June 2019
20-22 June: African academics and heritage experts met in the city of Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, to unpack the concept of ‘prevention’ as a tool for sustainable development, emphasizing the need to place the youth in the centre of this concept by making it relevant to them.
Organized under the theme “Protection of cultural and natural heritage and resources through prevention: ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Tuesday, June 25 - Recent flooding and the security situation threaten the preservation of the Minaret and Archaeological Remains of Jam, Afghanistan. UNESCO will send a mission to the site and launch a safeguarding project, thanks to funding from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH) of USD 1.9 million.
The Minaret of Jam is exposed to several ...
2 min read
Friday, 21 June 2019
The World Heritage Committee will examine 36 nominations for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during its 43rd session, which will take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, from 30 June to 10 July under the chair of Abulfas Garayev, Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan.
The Committee will furthermore examine the state of conservation of 166 sites already inscribed on the World ...
3 min read
Thursday, 20 June 2019
Heritage authorities from six heritage cities in Asia, Pacific and Africa gather in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, from 20 to 21 June 2019 to attend a workshop entitled “Experience Sharing Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategy among Heritage Cities in Southeast Asia, Pacific and Africa“ held by UNESCO Office Jakarta in collaboration with George Town World Heritage Incorporated ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 18 June 2019
As a global report released a month ago shows, the world’s ecosystems and biodiversity are deteriorating faster than at any time in human history, undermining humanity’s well-being and future existence.
The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in early May, ...
2 min read
Friday, 14 June 2019
The UNESCO-Africa-China Forum on World Heritage Capacity Building and Cooperation, held at UNESCO Headquarters from 3 – 4 June 2019, concluded with Recommendations and an Action Plan for joint projects supporting long-term capacity building for the safeguarding of African World Heritage properties. It was attended by ministers, decision-makers, World Heritage site managers, academics and ...
3 min read
Friday, 14 June 2019
Following the devastating fire at Mount Kenya National Park in February 2019 and the subsequent rampaging wildfire at Simien Mountains National Park in April 2019, UNESCO organized a capacity-building workshop in disaster risk management for World Heritage site managers and other stakeholders from Kenya and Ethiopia from 11 to 14 June 2019 at Mount Kenya World Heritage site in Nanyuki ...
3 min read
Tuesday, 11 June 2019
“Heritage it is an inherent part of our identity. It is a way to understand each other better” mentioned Victoria Kelly, one of the participants to the European Young Heritage Professionals Forum that gathered young practitioners with a background in both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Participants came from the 28 Member States of the European Union to discuss the multifaceted ...
1 min read
Saturday, 8 June 2019
This World Oceans Day, 8 June, is dedicated to gender and the ocean. To celebrate the day, UNESCO honours all women whose scientific work is enhancing the conservation of the 49 marine sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Discover the fascinating work of some of these women scientists through the videos below.
Ocean science is crucial for the protection and conservation of World ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 5 June 2019
This year, World Environment Day is focused on air pollution. Almost all of us are affected by it: 92 per cent of people worldwide do not breathe clean air.
So in 2019, those celebrating World Environment Day will urge governments, industry, communities, and individuals to come together to explore renewable energy and green technologies, and improve air quality in cities across the ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 4 June 2019
The three countries agree on a roadmap to explore the boundary extension of the Okavango Delta World Heritage site to protect the river basin and the unique wetland system.
The States Parties of Angola, Botswana and Namibia met in Maun in Botswana on 3-4 June 2019 to discuss transboundary cooperation and ways to improve conservation of the Okavango Delta (Botswana) World Heritage site ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 4 June 2019
The Yaksu-ri and Susan-ri tombs, two exceptional testaments to the civilisation of the Koguryo kingdom, were successfully conserved thanks to the UNESCO/Republic of Korea Funds-in-Trust project “Safeguarding of Koguryo Tombs in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)”, coordinated by UNESCO and implemented since 2000 in three consecutive phases. The property includes about 30 tombs ...
2 min read
Friday, 31 May 2019
The team of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its sadness after learning that former President of ICOMOS International, Prof Michael Petzet passed away on 30 May 2019.
The passing away of Michael Petzet represents an important loss for the conservation community. His strong opinions were always a reflection of his unerring commitment to excellence in the conservation of ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
On 3 and 4 June, the UNESCO-Africa-China Forum on World Heritage Capacity Building and Cooperation will seek to strengthen collaboration between Africa and China in the preservation of World Heritage. It will also provide an opportunity to take stock of the sustainable development challenges facing World Heritage sites in both China and Africa and foster the sharing of experience in ...
2 min read
Friday, 24 May 2019
This World Oceans Day, 8 June, will be dedicated to gender and the ocean. To celebrate the day, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Heritage Centre are teaming up to honour all women whose scientific work is enhancing the conservation of the 49 marine sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Join up and send us your short video by 31 May 2019.
Everyone ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
An outstanding video of Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve and the Sangha TriNational submitted by Ancel Langwa won the first prize in the Instagram video contest organized by the World Heritage Centre (WHC) and the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) on the occasion of the fourth edition of African World Heritage Day (5 May). The contest closed on Monday, May 20, 2019. The 27 submitted videos ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
This year’s International Day for Biological Diversity focuses on biodiversity as the foundation for our food and health and as a key catalyst to transforming food systems and improving human well-being. The World Heritage Convention recognizes some World Heritage properties specifically for their outstanding biodiversity values, protecting many of the most important ecosystems and areas of ...
2 min read
Monday, 20 May 2019
The World Heritage Centre organized a series of testing sessions for the on‑line tool of the World Heritage Policy Compendium. These testing sessions, which took place between April and May 2019, gathered feedback and comments from key World Heritage stakeholders on the Policy Compendium On‑line Tool, currently being developed by the World Heritage Centre.
The consultation is carried out ...
1 min read
Friday, 17 May 2019
The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Maps with the support of Azerbaijan, can now be ordered from the World Heritage Centre website.
The featured image on the map presents the Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower World Heritage property in Azerbaijan, country hosting the next session ...
1 min read
Friday, 17 May 2019
28 young heritage professionals with diverse backgrounds varying from ethnomusicology to architecture and visual computing technologies will come together for the European Young Heritage Professionals Forum to address for the first time both tangible heritage and intangible cultural heritage and to explore the potential synergies and challenges of their protection and safeguarding in the ...
1 min read
Thursday, 16 May 2019
The panel on ‘Heritage and Water’ during the UNESCO International Water Conference (13-14 May at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris) highlighted the spiritual and cultural significance of water at many heritage sites, and called for enhancing cooperation between planners and practitioners to demonstrate the importance of water management systems to policymakers.They also emphasized the need to ...
1 min read
Friday, 10 May 2019
This year’s World Migratory Bird Day is dedicated to highlighting the problem of pollution with the theme, ‘Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution.’
Waste and pollution are harmful to many World Heritage sites. Increased tourism means that more people are leaving trash at the world’s most iconic places. World Heritage sites are key stopover sites for birds, so the effective ...
2 min read
Thursday, 9 May 2019
A year-long process of discussion and collaboration regarding the update to Peru’s Tentative List culminated in April with the unanimous approval of the new proposal that will guide the country’s World Heritage strategy over the coming years.
The process involved an extensive preparatory and research phase, two national-level workshops, and permanent collaboration between the authorities ...
3 min read
Monday, 6 May 2019
Describing nature’s decline as unprecedented and citing among many indicators, 1,000,000 species threatened with extinction, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) laid bare the threats to all life on earth in its Global Assessement Report, released at UNESCO headquarters today.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay says the report put ...
3 min read
Monday, 6 May 2019
Launched at UNESCO in Paris on Monday 6 May, the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) sends an alarming message to the world. Ecosystems and biodiversity are deteriorating faster than at any time in human history, undermining humanity’s well-being and future ...
3 min read
Friday, 3 May 2019
Since 2016, we have been celebrating African World Heritage Day on 5 May. Proclaimed by the General Conference at its 38th session in 2015, this day was established to raise public awareness, among young people in particular, of the immense potential of the African cultural and natural heritage. For this fourth celebration, we would like not only to celebrate the richness of this heritage, ...
2 min read
Thursday, 2 May 2019
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to publish the selected projects for the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Campaign 2019
What is the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Initiative?
The WHV Initiative was launched in 2008 to encourage young people to undertake concrete actions and to play an active role in the protection, preservation and promotion of World Heritage sites. It consists ...
1 min read
Monday, 29 April 2019
Today at UNESCO HQ in Paris, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) opened its Seventh session. During the session the members of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions (including the eight Biodiversity-related Conventions, the CBD, the World Heritage Convention, CITES, CMS, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, IPPC, the ...
4 min read
Monday, 22 April 2019
International Earth Day is celebrated every year on 22 April to remind us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with sustenance, and that we have a collective responsibility to achieve balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations.
This year’s Earth Day highlights the importance of protecting species. World Heritage sites are home to the ...
2 min read
Thursday, 18 April 2019
As we celebrate International Day for Monuments and Sites 2019, with the theme of Rural landscapes, we highlight the value of conserving this heritage formed through long-term, harmonious interaction between humankind and the natural environment. Protecting these landscapes is key for sustainable development.
Rural landscapes are biocultural mosaics—using land sustainably for production ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 16 April 2019
“Our hearts are broken”Audrey Azoulay
“We are filled with emotion and our hearts are broken,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay as she witnessed the devastating fire tear through the historic cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris this evening. The cathedral is part of the 1991 World Heritage inscription, Paris, Banks of the Seine, which also includes bridges, quays and the banks of the ...
2 min read
Thursday, 11 April 2019
WHITRAP announces the online publication of the Proceedings of the Expert Meeting “The Implementation of UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation” held in Shanghai, China, from 26th to 28th March 2018.
Urban living is increasingly becoming the most common mode of habitation. Urban areas are coping with the pressure resulting from increasing population, uncontrolled development, ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 10 April 2019
On 26 and 27 March 2019, World Heritage Site Managers of the Arab States region came together in Cairo, Egypt for a workshop in the framework of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting which currently being implemented in the region. The World Heritage Centre, in close cooperation with the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) and the UNESCO Office in Cairo, organized the ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 9 April 2019
Launched in September 2018, UNESCO’s World Heritage Journeys website (VisitEUWorldHeritage.com), produced in collaboration with National Geographic, is a finalist for a Webby Award—the Internet’s most coveted award.
As a Webby Nominee, VisitEUWorldHeritage.com has been chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences as one of the five best in the world in the category of ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 9 April 2019
World Heritage Youth Fora are among the flagship activities of the World Heritage Education Programme, serving as a platform for bringing young professionals and heritage experts together to foster intercultural learning and exchange, to debate about common concerns and to discover new roles for themselves in heritage conservation.
In this context, and as an integral part of the 43rd session ...
1 min read
Thursday, 4 April 2019
The World Heritage Centre is determined to support Solomon Islands and Australia in exploring all options to hold the responsible company, owners and insurers to account. The Director of the World Heritage Centre wrote a letter to both the shipping and charter firm South Express Ltd, the owner of the MV Solomon Trader, and the insurance firm Korea Protection and Indemnity Club (Korea P&I ...
4 min read
Friday, 22 March 2019
In response to the fires in Mount Kenya National Park in early March, the Kenyan authorities - Mount Kenya Trust - submitted a grant application to the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) and obtained the maximum amount of US$30,000. This support will make it possible to finance hours of helicopter flights to monitor the Park's risk areas and intervene with water bombers in the event of new fire ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 19 March 2019
UNESCO Sub-regional Conference on World Heritage Global Strategy in the context of South Asia met in Kolkata (21-22 February 2019) released the Kolkata Recommendation as a strategy for future implementation of the World Heritage Global Strategy in the Sub-region.
The Sub-regional Conference, attended by approximately 55 governmental officials, experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 19 March 2019
World Heritage is the official publication from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, dedicated to presenting detailed feature articles about the most outstanding cultural and natural sites around the world. World Heritage is a quarterly magazine published since 1996 in English, French and Spanish. Explore recent issues or subscribe today.
We would be very grateful if you would spend a few ...
1 min read
Monday, 11 March 2019
On 26 and 27 February 2019, World Heritage Focal Points of the Arab States region came together at UNESCO Headquarters (Paris, France) for a workshop in the framework of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting exercise which is currently being implemented in the region.
The workshop, hosted by the World Heritage Centre in close cooperation with the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage ...
2 min read
Friday, 8 March 2019
This Women’s Day we celebrate our female World Heritage site managers: heroines protecting our most outstanding places.
Women play a crucial role in conservation - they are the rangers protecting Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo), the first site in the region to have female rangers. They safeguard marine World Heritage sites such as Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park ...
1 min read
Friday, 8 March 2019
Together for heritage!
The European Young Heritage Professionals Forum will take place from 20 to 24 May 2019 in Zadar, Croatia to explore potential synergies and challenges of working on tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the European context.
The Forum will enable participants to enhance project management and communication skills by working on their own heritage projects with ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 6 March 2019
A new IUCN SOS – Save Our Species Call for Proposals is now open.
Financed in partnership with the European Commission’s DG DEVCO, this call is focused on African Wildlife. It prioritises five species of carnivores, namely lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs and Ethiopian wolves. A limited proportion of the funding will be earmarked for additional threatened species. These include ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 5 March 2019
For more than a week, devastating fires have raged in Mount Kenya National Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 and a part of the Mount Kenya Biosphere Reserve since 1978.
According to the Kenya National Parks Service (KWS), these fires have already destroyed more than 80,000 hectares of forest and grassland, which represents almost half the area of the World Heritage site. ...
1 min read
Monday, 4 March 2019
An oil spill has occurred near East Rennell, the only natural World Heritage site in the Pacific that is on the Danger List. Experts from Australia are currently working with the national authorities to ascertain the status of the situation and advice on possible mitigation measures to be taken.
On 4 February 2019, the bulk carrier MV Solomon Trader ran aground in Kangava Bay, Rennell ...
3 min read
Friday, 1 March 2019
The theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 14: life below water. It is also the first World Wildlife Day highlighting marine biodiversity.
World Heritage marine sites are home to the world’s most exceptional species on earth such as the Bengal tiger, marine iguanas, and the Coelacanth, the world’s oldest fish.Despite this rich wildlife, our sites ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 26 February 2019
On behalf of the World Heritage Centre, Director Ms Mechtild Rössler expresses her solidarity with the efforts currently being undertaken by national authorities in Colombia to curb increasing security challenges in the country’s national parks, some of which are classified as natural World Heritage properties.
In the light of these increasing and dramatic pressures, Parques Nacionales ...
1 min read
Monday, 25 February 2019
The first regional meeting on "Transboundary Cooperation for effective management of World Heritage Sites in Africa" was held from 11 to 15 February 2019 in the city of Man (Côte d'Ivoire), located at 100 km from the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, the first African transboundary property inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Funded by the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust, the main objective of ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 20 February 2019
An oil spill has reportedly occurred in East Rennell, Solomon Islands on Tuesday, 19 February when a bulk carrier ran aground at Kangava Bay, just outside of the World Heritage property.
East Rennell was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998 and is the largest raised coral atoll in the world. The site includes Lake Tegano, a brackish lake containing many rugged limestone islets which ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 19 February 2019
Launched in July 2017 with financial support from the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust, the “Communities and reinforcement of the management of the Royal Palaces of Abomey World Heritage Site” project, has been successfully concluded with a three-day cultural celebration event, from 27 to 29 December 2018.
These ‘Cultural Days’ which responded to the theme “Let’s open our Palaces!”, were organized ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 19 February 2019
In 2012, Rio de Janeiro, a Carioca landscape between the mountains and the sea, became the first urban cultural landscape ever inscribed on the World Heritage List.
To its beaches, carnival, football and World Heritage, also represented by the archaeological site of the Valongo pier (inscribed in 2017), the Brazilian metropolis now adds yet another attraction: architecture. Following an ...
1 min read
Friday, 15 February 2019
On 1 October 1919 in Weimar (Germany), a new kind of art school founded by architect Walter Gropius welcomed its first students, and Bauhaus was born. In 2019, we are celebrating the centenary of this school founded after the First World War.
A festival, two museums, exhibitions and even a television series dedicated to Walter Gropius will mark the anniversary of this Movement that ...
1 min read
Friday, 8 February 2019
UNESCO New Delhi and the Ministry of Tourism, West Bengal Government (India), in support of the Archaeological Survey of India, are organizing a sub-regional conference World Heritage Global Strategy in the context of South Asia on 21 and 22 February 2019 in Kolkata.
The Global Strategy, launched in 1994 by the World Heritage Committee, has the aim to ensure that the List reflects the ...
1 min read
Friday, 8 February 2019
After heavy rains hit northeastern Togo in August 2018, UNESCO led an emergency mission to the World Heritage Property of Koutammakou, to assess the scale of the damage including to some of the world’s rarest architectural structures – the two-storey mud “tower” houses known as Takienta.
The mission, which comprised three international and four national experts, visited the villages of ...
2 min read
Friday, 1 February 2019
This year’s World Wetlands Day under the theme of “Wetlands and Climate Change” highlights the importance of healthy and intact wetlands to one of the most pressing challenges of our times: climate change.
Celebrated annually on 2 February, the day the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971, World Wetlands Day is a success story of the international community ensuring efficient ...
2 min read
Thursday, 31 January 2019
Throughout 2018, the World Heritage Marine Programme led transformational changes at specific sites, furthered research on climate change impacts and advanced the fight against marine pollution.
Download the Report
The highlight of 2018 was undoubtedly the removal of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System from the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger. Lauded in the New York Times as “A ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Following the Fifth Meeting of the Coordinating Committee on Serial Transnational World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Roads, 4–5 December 2018, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, the participants including national focal points and experts from thirteen countries, adopted a list of decisions for further activities to preserve and manage the Cultural Heritage sites along the Silk Roads.
The 5th ...
2 min read
Monday, 28 January 2019
The staff of the World Heritage Centre would like to express its sadness after learning that Dr. Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), passed away on 23 January 2019 after a short illness.
This is a tragic loss for CMS, all biodiversity related Conventions and the United Nations. Bradnee became Executive ...
1 min read
Monday, 21 January 2019
Following the decision adopted by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session (Manama, 2018), a high-level World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission, led by the Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre, is being dispatched to the World Heritage property "Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz" (Uzbekistan) on 21-26 January 2019, at the invitation of the Uzbek government.
The ...
2 min read
Monday, 21 January 2019
A pioneering insurance industry guide to protect our planet’s most special places through its risk management, insurance and investment activities will be created in 2019 with leading insurers.
This follows the 2018 launch of the world’s first insurance industry statement of commitment to protect World Heritage Sites developed by UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance ...
4 min read
Friday, 18 January 2019
From 9 to 11 January 2019, ICCROM organized an experts meeting at the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome to reflect on its new initiative entitled “Africa Programme 2020-2029: Changing the Face of Heritage and Conservation in Africa”. The 15 experts representing cultural and heritage institutions on the African continent, ICCROM and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, shared their specific ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 8 January 2019
The Earth Skills Network (ESN) is a unique collaboration between Earthwatch, UNESCO, IUCN and the business community. It connects leaders from the business and conservation community through mentoring and skill-sharing opportunities.
The Earth Skills Network provides funded training in:
business planning and effective management practices and,
personal development of leadership ...
1 min read
Friday, 4 January 2019
Dear friends,
As 2019 begins, I’d like thank everyone who has made efforts to protect World Heritage sites, whether by taking action at a property, making a donation for site preservation, or just by being a thoughtful tourist.
2018 was a challenging year with many threats to World Heritage globally. In addition to specific threats ranging from logging to overfishing, from ill-advised ...
2 min read
Friday, 21 December 2018
Marking the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, UNESCO and the European Union teamed up to develop a new project to start in 2019 that strengthens the connections between cultural heritage, youth and education. The project has two main components: one seeks to empower a new generation of heritage professionals and another aims to bring intangible cultural heritage into the ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Nominations are now open, with the deadline for submission 30 April 2019.
The Prize rewards outstanding action to safeguard and enhance the world’s major cultural landscapes, which can contribute significantly to sustainable development and achieve a number of goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The prizewinner, who may be an individual, an institution or a ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
The third meeting of the World Heritage Policy Compendium Working Group took place from the 11th to the 13th of December 2018 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The meeting was organized in order to finalize the draft Compendium in line with the request by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in Manama, Bahrain.
During the three-day working meeting, the Working Group, which ...
1 min read
Monday, 17 December 2018
Under the high patronage of H.E. Abdulaziz bin Mohamed Al-Rowas, Advisor for Cultural Affairs to His Majesty the Sultan of Oman, some 30 experts gathered in Salalah, Oman, from 3 to 5 December 2018, to discuss the future of the World Heritage property “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley” and to enhance cooperation between relevant stakeholders.
Financially ...
1 min read
Friday, 14 December 2018
Nearly two-thirds of the ocean, half of the world's surface, lies beyond the jurisdiction of nations. While 49 marine sites are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, all of them are currently limited to areas within nation’s territories. Following a pioneering UNESCO-IUCN report in 2016, experts concluded that these remote ocean areas do harbour globally unique areas that deserve ...
2 min read
Thursday, 13 December 2018
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre held a workshop on 26-27 November in Bhopal, India, with stakeholders of the new ‘World Heritage Journeys Buddha’ project.
With the support of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and in collaboration with National Geographic, the project focuses on three World Heritage sites in South Asia including Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 12 December 2018
In response to recent reports that Tanzania granted a contract for the construction of a dam within the Selous Game Reserve World Heritage property to two Egyptian companies, the Director of the World Heritage Centre reminded the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania of its obligations as signatory to the 1972 World Heritage Convention.
Upon the inscription of Selous Game Reserve on ...
3 min read
Saturday, 8 December 2018
A new UNESCO project funded by the Government of The Netherlands is supporting Eritrea’s efforts to strengthen the conservation and management of Asmara: A Modernist African City World Heritage property using the UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape Approach.
Eritrea’s capital city Asmara was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 as “an exceptional example of early modernist ...
2 min read
Monday, 3 December 2018
From 17 to 29 November 2018, the Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 14) was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
The meeting was an important milestone for the international community to see where we are in achieving global goals—such as the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2010-2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable ...
1 min read
Friday, 30 November 2018
The World Heritage Centre reaffirmed its commitment to the protection of natural heritage at the 18th Meeting of the Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) in Brussels, Belgium, which was held on 27 and 28 November 2018.
Ms. Mechtild Rössler, Director of the World Heritage Centre, welcomed the progress made in its protection and highlighted the future challenges facing this ...
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Thursday, 29 November 2018
From 26 to 30 November 2018, a high-level delegation from Belize is visiting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to exchange best practices on leveraging their reef’s iconic World Heritage status, to protect their fragile ecosystems from climate impacts and secure sustainable livelihoods, jobs and income for local communities. The visit follows a series of landmark conservation actions that led to ...
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Thursday, 29 November 2018
From 12-14 November 2018, World Heritage Focal Points of the Arab States region came together in Manama, Bahrain for a workshop on Periodic Reporting for the World Heritage Convention.
The workshop was organised and hosted by the UNESCO Category 2 Centre ARC-WH in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre and was held within the framework of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting (PR), ...
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Wednesday, 28 November 2018
The World Heritage Centre, in close collaboration with the UNESCO Multisectoral and Regional Office in Dakar and the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), organized a workshop entitled "World Heritage and Institutions of Higher Learning in Africa" from 6 to 8 November 2018 at the University Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis (Senegal), with the support of the Senegalese Ministry of Culture and the ...
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Monday, 19 November 2018
From 14 to 16 November 2018, World Heritage marine managers and marine litter experts from around the world met at the Island of Norderney in the Wadden Sea World Heritage site to discuss impacts of marine litter and plastics. During the 3-day workshop, best practices on marine litter monitoring, clean-up campaigns and awareness-raising were exchanged.
Marine litter, including plastics, is ...
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Monday, 19 November 2018
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the Call for Projects for the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Campaign 2019. This Call welcomes the participation of all interested organizations and institutions.
“Empowering the Commitment to World Heritage”
What is the WHV Initiative?
The WHV Initiative was launched in 2008 to encourage young people to undertake concrete actions ...
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Monday, 19 November 2018
The World Heritage Centre received today a visit from a delegation of representatives from the Arhuaco indigenous community of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, included on Colombia’s Tentative List since 2012 as a potential mixed World Heritage property.
The representatives met with the Director and the team of the Latin American and Caribbean Unit of the World Heritage Centre to discuss ...
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Thursday, 15 November 2018
UNESCO launches the second phase of the World Heritage and Museums programme in cooperation with three prestigious World Heritage cities: George Town, Melaka (Malaysia) and Vigan (the Philippines)
Thanks to the generous and renewed funding from the government of Japan through UNESCO, three historic towns will design and implement a variety of activities, which strengthen the ties between ...
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Friday, 9 November 2018
“Nan Madol: Ceremonial Centre of Eastern Micronesia” is a jewel in the Pacific that has inspired many stories and myths. There are more than 100 islets at the site, constructed with walls of basalt and coral boulders, upon which were built structures with walls up to eight meters high of columnar basalt that glistens in the sun. These ruins represent the ceremonial center of the Saudeleur ...
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Friday, 9 November 2018
Addis Ababa, 5 November 2018: The Director of UNESCO Liaison Office to AU and UN ECA, and Representative to Ethiopia, Ms Ana Elisa Santana Afonso met with a delegation of the Orthodox Tewahido Church of Lalibela, led by His Holiness Aba Tsige Selassie, Head Administrator of the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela. Begun in the 12th century, this complex of 11 churches was among the first cultural ...
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Friday, 9 November 2018
From 18 to 22 October 2018, the World Heritage Centre undertook a technical mission to the Barotse Cultural Landscape, a site on the Tentative List of Zambia. The mission met with the local communities to identify suitable development projects compatible with the safeguarding of the cultural landscape, and to seek the support of the traditional custodians to nominate the site on the World ...
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Friday, 9 November 2018
On 5 November 2018, a team of experts from the World Heritage Centre and IUCN arrived in Montenegro for a joint Advisory mission to the World Heritage property “Durmitor National Park.”
The State Party of Montenegro invited the mission with the objectives to review a potential boundary modification and to assess the overall state of conservation of the World Heritage site. The mission ...
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Tuesday, 6 November 2018
The World Heritage Office of the Historic Heritage Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain is organizing the XII National Meeting of World Heritage Managers, hosted by the Luis Seoane Foundation from 6 to 8 of November 2018 in the city of Coruña.
The meeting, celebrated annually since 2007, is a space for analysis, debate and ...
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Friday, 2 November 2018
The national Technical Secretariats of the six countries belonging to the Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System continue their collaborative efforts in strengthening the conservation and management structure of this unique and complex World Heritage site, inscribed in 2014 as a serial cultural transboundary property crossing Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
In the months of ...
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Friday, 2 November 2018
UNESCO gathered tourism and heritage experts at the Organization’s Headquarters on 29 October 2018 to examine the leading role that tourism and culture can play in fostering sustainable development in the EU and China.
The EU-China High Level Conference on World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism was organized in the framework of the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, an initiative led by the ...
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Tuesday, 30 October 2018
UNESCO condemns the intentional destruction of the Ahmed Al-Faz Mosque and Mausoleum in Hodeida, located on the coast approximately 30km from the World Heritage property of the Historic Town of Zabid. The General Organization of Antiquities and Museums (GOAM) in Yemen confirmed, in a statement published on 23 October, that the building was destroyed by extremists on the previous day.
The ...
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Monday, 29 October 2018
For the first time, UNESCO World Heritage coral reef managers will partner with global climate resilience experts and local community stakeholders to build and embed comprehensive resilience strategies into their management of World Heritage sites.
The project builds on the capacity of reef managers to work locally and enables a global network of flagship protected area managers to create ...
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Thursday, 25 October 2018
The project “Communities and reinforcement of the management of the Royal Palaces of Abomey World Heritage Site” financed by the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust was implemented from July 2017 to August 2018, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Benin, the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and the School of African Heritage (EPA).
The project aimed to strengthen the state of ...
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Tuesday, 23 October 2018
The results have been released concerning the development of management strategies for the Silk Road corridors in Central Asia after the sub-regional meeting of the working group on preparation of the dossier of the Serial transnational nomination of the World Heritage "Silk Road: Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor" held on 2 October 2018 and a sub-regional seminar on the development of management ...
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Tuesday, 23 October 2018
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre was saddened to learn of the passing of David Lowenthal, the American historian and geographer whose revolutionary work contributed to heritage study being recognized as an academic discipline. He argued that heritage was not history, but rather what people choose from history to define themselves.
Born in the United States, he lived most of his life in ...
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Friday, 12 October 2018
Every year, disasters caused by natural hazards affect millions of people around the world. The resultant human losses are tragic and highlight the vulnerabilities shared by our societies.
Recent events have illustrated the devastating effects of natural disasters. The State of Kerala in India, for example, experienced in August the worst episode of flooding since 1924. Many hundreds of ...
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Friday, 12 October 2018
From 9 to 12 October 2018, World Heritage managers from the Africa and Arab region met at Sanganeb Marine National Park and Dungonab Bay – Mukkawar Island Marine National Park in Sudan. The meeting focused on sharing expertise in balancing conservation of the site's unique natural values with the reduction of poverty among local communities that are directly dependent on the World Heritage ...
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Friday, 12 October 2018
The first China/Germany Cultural Exchange on Heritage Conservation for Sustainable Development, organized at the initiative of UNESCO, took place on 26-30 September 2018 in Berlin, Germany, and gathered international experts and stakeholders for an international reflection session on the role of culture as a vector of sustainable development on the international stage, today and in the ...
4 min read
Thursday, 11 October 2018
Every year some 300,000 elephants are killed by poachers in Africa for their tusks, and approximately 41 tons of pangolin scales were seized in Africa (in 2017), that is the equivalent of over 34,000 animals.
On Sunday, 30 September 2018, the Democratic Republic of Congo organized a ceremony, in the presidential park of N’sele, 50 km from the centre of Kinshasa, to set free five grey parrots ...
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Thursday, 27 September 2018
Tourism is increasingly a major source of growth, employment and income for many of the world’s countries, particularly in emerging economies. However, when mismanaged, overwhelming numbers of visitors can damage ancient monuments and put intangible heritage at risk.
World Tourism Day is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of protecting World Heritage and ensuring that tourism makes ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 26 September 2018
For the first time, on 18-19 September 2018, members of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions (BLG) met with the Culture Conventions Liaison Group (CCLG) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
The occasion was the 13th meeting of the BLG, held to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation to fight against accelerating global biodiversity loss, especially in view of the ...
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Monday, 24 September 2018
Today, on 24 September 2018, a group of experts from the World Heritage Centre and IUCN arrived in Warsaw to carry out a joint Reactive Monitoring mission to the transboundary World Heritage property “Białowieża Forest” (Belarus/Poland). Situated on the watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas, the World Heritage property is the site of an immense and biologically diverse primeval forest that ...
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Tuesday, 18 September 2018
The Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting (2018 – 2024), a global World Heritage conservation monitoring exercise carried out in six-year cycles, begins this September with reporting in the Arab States region.
World Heritage Site Managers and National Focal Points of the 84 World Heritage properties (76 cultural, 5 natural and 3 mixed sites in 18 State Parties) in the Arab States region will be ...
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Tuesday, 18 September 2018
This guidebook for urban and architectural regulation of Cidade Velha (Cabo Verde) was produced within the framework of an international assistance for the elaboration of an ‘Illustrated guidebook of the urban rules of Cidade Velha’.
Its objective is to make the urban legislation of the city of Cidade Velha, inscribed on the World Heritage List since 2009, more accessible and understandable ...
Monday, 17 September 2018
Today, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre released an update to its 2017 first global scientific assessment of the impact of climate change on UNESCO World Heritage coral reefs.
The latest update concludes that limiting global temperatures to 1.5°C degrees above pre-industrial levels would mean World Heritage-listed coral reefs are expected to avoid severe annual bleaching this century. ...
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Thursday, 13 September 2018
Coinciding with the European Heritage Days celebrations, UNESCO will launch the first-ever web platform dedicated to World Heritage and sustainable travel. Supported by the European Union, the platform features 34 selected World Heritage sites spread across 19 European Union countries, and it has been developed in collaboration with National Geographic.
The launch will take place when UNESCO ...
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Thursday, 6 September 2018
It is with deep sorrow that we learned of the passing of Dr Henry Forrester Cleere, in London on 23 August 2018. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre staff would like to express our heartfelt condolences to Henry’s family.
Dr Henry Cleere was born in London on 2 August 1926. After completing a Masters degree in English, Henry Cleere worked for over 20 years in the iron and steel industry before ...
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Tuesday, 4 September 2018
On 30 and 31 August 2018, the 70th anniversary of IUCN was celebrated at Fontainebleau, France with the theme “The Future of Landscapes: A New Relationship for People and Nature”. It is at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, a World Heritage site, that in 1948 the founding assembly convened at the invitation of UNESCO to create the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN), later to ...
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Friday, 31 August 2018
Upon the conclusion of the second Governing Board meeting of the Lucio Costa Centre (CLC), Regional Training Centre for World Heritage Management (Category II Centre under the auspices of UNESCO), located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the member countries of the CLC adopted the Work Plan 2018-2020 as a new agenda of activities and actions in the field of World Heritage.
The meeting involved the ...
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Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Over the last several months, the World Heritage Centre has been receiving numerous messages from citizens from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as from other countries, expressing their concern regarding the ‘Proposed Scheme’ for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down project, located within the boundaries of the World Heritage site “Stonehenge, Avebury and ...
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Thursday, 23 August 2018
On the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in the western part of the island of Saint-Domingue, then French colony of the West Indies, an uprising of slaves took place, which would mark a turning point in the tragic history of the slave trade. The war that ensued culminated in 1804 in the independence of that part of the island, which took the name of Haiti, and led to the recognition of the equal ...
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Friday, 10 August 2018
This year, International Youth Day focuses on the theme: "Safe spaces for youth".
Youth is a decisive phase in personal development. It is the age when people venture into the unknown, seeking new horizons; it is a time of encounters, often memorable ones; it is a time of first commitments. However, youth is also a vulnerable age, when negative experiences can quickly lead to withdrawal, ...
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Thursday, 9 August 2018
Indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable populations in the world. This International Day is an opportunity to raise public awareness of their precarious situation, particularly in relation to migration, which is the Day's theme in 2018.
Migration influences the way of life of many indigenous peoples, whether these be nomadic pastoral societies who follow the transhumance calendar, ...
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Monday, 6 August 2018
The World Heritage Beech Forests Conference was held in Vienna, Austria on 23 July 2018. Eighty-four participants from 15 States Parties came to discuss the challenges and future of the UNESCO World Heritage “Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe”.
The conference supported the upstream process and enabled direct communication with UNESCO and IUCN ...
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Monday, 6 August 2018
The following is a message from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered on 6 August 2018, at the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on 6 August 1945. It was inscribed on the World Heritage ...
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