News

A training workshop on strengthening World Heritage site management planning in Egypt took place in Luxor, Egypt, from 10 to 14 December 2023. Focusing on the site ‘Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis’ in particular, the workshop provided site managers and practitioners concerned with the management, conservation and planning of World Heritage sites in Egypt, with a global perspective on ...

A highly anticipated inception workshop titled "Heritage for Peace: Enhancing Transboundary and Regional Cooperation for Natural and Mixed World Heritage Sites in Asia" was successfully held on 6 July 2023, in an online format. This experts’ workshop marked a crucial step towards promoting transboundary conservation efforts and unlocking the immense potential of Asia's natural and mixed ...

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 3-12 September 2023Looking Ahead: The Next 50 Years of Protecting Natural and Cultural Heritage As an integral part of the extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, and in the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme, the Ministry of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the National Committee for Education, Culture and ...

On 14 February 2023, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre organized the second Coordination Group meeting on ‘Post COVID-19 World Heritage Site Management: Integration of Conservation, Tourism and Local Livelihood Strategies at World Heritage Sites’, a project funded by the government of Japan through the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust. Subsequent to the project’s launch in June 2022 (see Post ...

In the last 12 months, 145 cities, institutions and individuals have signed up to the HUL Call for Action to raise awareness about the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) and to accelerate inclusive urban and heritage management. Responses came from 59 countries from all regions of the world. They included stakeholders from academia, cultural institutions, the ...

On 9 May 2022, UNESCO organized an online meeting to discuss the removal of African properties from the List of World Heritage in Danger. Despite the richness and diversity of Africa’s cultural and natural heritage, the Sub-Saharan African region is one of the least represented regions  on the World Heritage List, but still registers the highest number of endangered properties. The meeting ...

African World Heritage Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of May to remember and acknowledge the importance of promoting and safeguarding the UNESCO World Heritage in Africa for the benefit of present and future generations. To celebrate the 7th edition of African World Heritage Day, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC), in collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), ...

UNESCO and ICCROM held an online ceremony to mark the launch of their joint initiative “Improving Management Effectiveness of World Heritage in Africa” with representatives from UNESCO World Heritage, ICCROM, IUCN, the Ambassadors of Japan, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland, and other participants. This event marks the end of the first set of activities (from 6 December 2021 to 24 January ...

On 23 February 2022, an online Kick-Off Expert Meeting launched the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust (JFiT) project “Support Silk Roads World Heritage Nomination(s) process” (Phase III). This event was co-organised by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), and brought together representatives of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, IICAS ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ICCROM launch a Call for Expressions of Interest for the Evaluation of the UNESCO World Heritage Capacity-Building Strategy (WHCBS) For the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the World Heritage Capacity-Building Strategy (2011-2021), the World Heritage Committee, at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021), requested an evaluation of the WHCBS. In ...

Resilience and Re-mobilization towards World Heritage. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the Call for Projects for the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Campaign 2022 ‘Resilience and Re-mobilization towards World Heritage’. In the wake of the pandemic which has highlighted the importance of carrying out community development hand-in-hand with World Heritage conservation, ...

The World Heritage Committee, during its Extended 44th session, has officially taken note of the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the World Heritage Capacity-Building Strategy (2011 - 2021). To mark this celebration, the World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce that a dedicated capacity building webpage has been made available to centralize all on-going and future capacity building ...

A technical workshop was organized to strengthen capacities of stakeholders in identifying and evaluating the impact that new projects may pose on the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage sites, in addition to the elaboration of the necessary mitigation measures. The online workshop was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, and brought together ...

In the context of the 10th anniversary of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL Recommendation) and as part of the activities organised for the Metropolitan Plan for Prague, the City of Prague that includes the World Heritage property of the Historic Centre of Prague, hosted on March 24 the conference Integrating Urban Heritage in Urban Planning Processes, in ...

12 December, 2020 marked the 30th anniversary of the inscription of “Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.  To celebrate the occasion, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve, in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ...

The coronavirus has challenged the core of what makes cities vibrant and successful: busy streets full of people. Will these cities ever come back to be the same? The webinar on Euro-Mediterranean cities in the post-pandemic era, organized by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Secretariat in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, reflected on sustainable urban development in ...

The ambitious capacity-building agenda for World Heritage in Mexico and Central America recently saw a major step forward with the first sub-regional workshop held from 26 to 28 August 2019, organized by the Category 2 Centre based in Zacatecas, Mexico. Representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama, as well as Caribbean participants from ...

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 ...

The renewed agreement outlines the mandate and responsibilities in the field of World Heritage of the Regional Heritage Management Training Centre “Lucio Costa” located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO. The Lucio Costa Centre is recognized for its mandate focused on reinforcing the capacities of Member States for the conservation and management of ...

An inter-regional workshop entitled “World Heritage and Sustainable Development: the Role of Local Communities” was organized at the National Museum in Karachi, Pakistan (23-24 November 2017) by the World Heritage Centre in close co-operation with the UNESCO office in Islamabad and the Department of Archaeology of the Government of Sindh Province, Pakistan. The Workshop, opened by the ...