UNESCO World Heritage Committee session to be hosted by China after a one-year hiatus

The World Heritage Committee’s 44^th session will be chaired from Fuzhou (China) and take place online from 16 to 31 July, combining current work and issues left outstanding since last year, when the annual meeting was postponed due to COVID-19. The extended session will be chaired by Tian Xuejun, China’s Vice Minister for Education and Director of China’s National Commission for UNESCO.

Mechtild Rössler, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, will be available to answer journalists’ questions about the forthcoming World Heritage Committee session at an online information session on 22 June, at 2:00 pm CEST (UTC+2, Paris Time). After registering online, journalists will receive login information by mail.

On 18 July, 9:45 am CEST (UTC+2, Paris Time), Mr Tian and Ms Rössler, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, will host a press conference that will be streamed online (details to follow).

On 16 July, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay will take part in the opening of the session. during which the Committee will notably examine the state of conservation of 255 sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, 53 of which also figure on the List of World Heritage in Danger. 

Starting on 24 July, the World Heritage Committee will start inscribing nominated sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, beginning with nominations that could not be reviewed last year. 

2020 Nominations

Natural sites

• Georgia, Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands
• Japan, Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, Northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island
• Republic of Korea, Getbol, Korean Tidal Flat
• Slovenia, Classical Karst
• Thailand, Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex

Mixed cultural and natural sites

• Ethiopia, Holqa Sof Umar: Natural and Cultural Heritage (Sof Umar: Caves of Mystery) 

Cultural sites

• Austria / Belgium / Czechia / France / Germany / Italy / United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Great Spas of Europe
• Austria / Germany / Hungary / Slovakia, Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Western Segment) 
• Belgium / Netherlands Colonies of Benevolence
• Brazil, Sítio Roberto Burle Marx 
  China, Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China 
• Dominican Republic, Historical and Archaeological Site of La Isabela 
• France, Cordouan Lighthouse 
• Germany, Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt
• Greece, Fortress of Spinalonga 
• India, The Glorious Kakatiya Temples and Gateways – Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Palampet, Jayashankar Bhupalpally District, Telangana State 
• Iran (Islamic Republic of), Trans-Iranian Railway 
• Italy, ‘Padova Urbs picta’, Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel and Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles
• Mongolia, Deer Stone Monuments and Related Sites, the Heart of Bronze Age Culture
• Netherlands, Dutch Water Defence Lines [extension of “Defence Line of Amsterdam”, inscribed in 1996]
• Peru, Chankillo Solar Observatory and ceremonial center
• Romania, Roșia Montană Mining Landscape
• Saudi Arabia, Cultural Rock Arts in Ḥimā Najrān 
• Spain, Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences 
• Turkey, Arslantepe Mound 
• Uruguay, The work of engineer Eladio Dieste: Church of Atlántida 

2021 Nominations

• Gabon, Ivindo National Park 
• Bosnia and Herzegovina / Czechia / France / Italy / Montenegro / North Macedonia / Poland / Serbia / Slovakia / Switzerland, Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe [extension of “Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe”, inscribed in 2007, extensions in 2011 and 2017]

Cultural sites

• Chile, Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture in the Arica and Parinacota Region
• Côte d'Ivoire, Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’Ivoire 
• France, Nice, capital of Riviera tourism
• Germany, ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz
• Germany / Netherlands, Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Lower German Limes
  India, Dholavira: A Harappan City
• Iran (Islamic Republic of), Cultural Landscape of Hawraman/Uramanat
• Italy, The Porticoes of Bologna
• Japan, Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
• Jordan, As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban Hospitality
• Latvia, Grobiņa archaeological ensemble
• Mexico, Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Tlaxcala [extension of “Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl”, inscribed in 1994]
• Poland, Gdańsk Shipyard – the birthplace of “Solidarity” and the symbol of the Fall of the Iron Curtain in Europe
• Russian Federation, Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea
• Slovenia, The works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana – Human Centred Urban Design
• Spain, Ribeira Sacra
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 

World Heritage Committee has inscribed 1,121 sites in 167 countries on the World Heritage List to date. Composed of representatives of 21 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, the Committee is in charge of implementing the Convention.