
Aleppo must be saved: Call by the Chairman of the World Heritage Committee
Friday, 10 August 2012

Director-General Visits the Buddhist Monuments of Bagan
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
At its tenth session, the UN Permanent Forum on indigenous issues (UNPFII) made several recommendations relating to UNESCO, its World Heritage Committee and the advisory bodies ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN.
At the 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011) and 36th (St Petersburg, 2012) sessions of the World Heritage Committee, representatives of the UN Permanent Forum were present as observers ...
The project ‘Protection, Preservation and Prosperity: Stories of World Heritage,’ is being launched today by UNESCO and the Smithsonian Institution to celebrate the World Heritage Convention. Using mobile phone technology to reach the wider public, the project focuses on 10 World Heritage sites which embody, in particular, the role of local communities in World Heritage ...
In light of escalated violence in the vicinity of several historic urban areas in Syria, the Director-General reiterates her appeal of 30 March 2012, to all parties involved in the conflict to protect all Syrian cultural heritage.
UNESCO is particularly alarmed over reports of heavy fighting in Aleppo, which ancient city is a World Heritage site. Strategically positioned on historic trade ...

Creation of a Special Fund for the Safeguarding of Mali’s World Heritage sites
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
RRF grant awarded to rebuilt the Okapi Wildlife Reserve
Friday, 20 July 2012
Tokyo Expert Meeting (Feb 2012) published
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
The World Heritage Centre and the French Marine Protected Area Agency (AAMP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in support of the conservation of marine World Heritage sites. The World Heritage Centre and AAMP have cooperated informally over the past years, in particular on efforts for the conservation marine World Heritage in the Indian Ocean and strengthening the World Heritage ...
The World Heritage Committee Friday closed its 36th session after almost two weeks of work under the chair of Eleonora Mitrofanova, the Ambassador of Russia to UNESCO.
The Committee added 26 new sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List during the session. It marked the 40th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The new ...

Emergency appeal for Okapi Wildlife Reserve (DRC) following murderous raid by poachers
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
21st International Radiocarbon Conference held at UNESCO Headquarters
Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Beech Forests of Europe – Further Sites for the WH list ?
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
The World Heritage Committee on 2 July condemned the destruction of World Heritage sites in Mali and decided on measures to help the country protect its heritage.
In its decision, the 21-member Committee responsible for implementing the World Heritage Convention, called on the Director-General of UNESCO to create a special fund to help Mali in the conservation of its cultural heritage.
The ...

Twenty-six new sites inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List this year
Monday, 2 July 2012
The World Heritage Committee on Sunday inscribed eight new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, including Chad’s first World Heritage property. Inscriptions will continue tomorrow Monday. The new sites are:
Major Mining Sites of Walonia (Belgium): The four sites of the property form a strip that is 170km long by 3 to 15 km, crossing Belgium from east to west. It consists of the ...

Bahraini pearling site and the Mosque of Isfahan inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Saturday, 30 June 2012
The World Heritage Committee on Saturday afternoon added the following sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List: Gonbad-e Qābus (Iran), Archaelogical Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (Malaysia), The Landscape of Grand Pré (Canada); Heritage of Mercury (Almadén and Idrija (Slovenia/Spain); Margravial Opera House Bayreuth (Germany); Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its ...
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today expressed her distress and dismay over the destruction of three sacred tombs that are part of a World Heritage site in Timbuktu, Mali. Ms Bokova called on the belligerents to cease the destruction immediately.
“Reports that the Mausoleums of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya have been destroyed is extremely distressing,” the ...

Mexican tourism project cancelled to protect Gulf of California World Heritage site
Saturday, 30 June 2012
New sites have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List: Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine); Site of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel: The Nahal Me’arot/Wadi el-Mughara Caves (Israel), Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (Palau), and The Cultural Landscape of Bali: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita ...
The Site of Xanadu (China), the Bassari Country: Bassari and Bedik Cultural Landscapes (Senegal) and the Historic Town Grand Bassam, the first capital of Côte d’Ivoire have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
North of the Great Wall, the Site of Xanadu encompasses the remains of Kublai Khan’s legendary capital city, designed by the Mongol ...
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, expressed her utmost concern with the recent fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which is affecting several World Heritage sites. On Sunday June 24, a group of armed rebels attacked the headquarters of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, killing at least 7 park staff. Others were taken hostage by the rebels or are still unaccounted for. All ...

Heritage sites in northern Mali placed on List of World Heritage in Danger
Thursday, 28 June 2012
The World Heritage Committee on Tuesday morning recognized the success of two countries, Pakistan and the Philippines, in improving the conservation of sites that had been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger: Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore (Pakistan) and the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (Philippines).
Successful measures have been taken to remove the threat ...

Panamanian fortifications inscribed on List of World Heritage in Danger
Wednesday, 27 June 2012

World Heritage Committee places Liverpool on List of World Heritage in Danger
Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Day 1 in St Petersburg: 2012 World Heritage Committee
Monday, 25 June 2012

36th session of World Heritage Committee opens with focus on sustainable development
Sunday, 24 June 2012
The Youth Model of the World Heritage Committee, to be held in Kazan from 1 to 9 July, is designed to attract the attention of young people of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention to the problem of preservating natural and cultural heritage and to raise awareness of youth activities related to the Convention, its role and its international importance as well as procedures ...

UNESCO and NOUH sign agreement for preservation of Historic Cairo
Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Successful World Heritage Candidates for the 2012 Business Planning Programme
Tuesday, 19 June 2012

10 Years of Dutch Support to World Heritage “From Astronomy to Zanzibar” published
Friday, 15 June 2012
Following the earthquakes that struck the region of Emilia in northern Italy, notably since May 20, the UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova dispatched an urgent technical mission with the objective of assessing the overall situation at the affected World Heritage properties. The mission also aimed to evaluate the current risks related to the evolution of the seismic phenomenon ...
The Consultative Meeting on World Heritage and Sustainable Development, held in Ouro Preto, Brazil from 5 to 8 February, was a contribution to the celebration the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. In the first session, all speakers stressed the need to redefine the paradigm of this important topic in the face of growing inequalities and global challenges.
This ...

World Heritage celebrates World Oceans Day with new iPhone app
Friday, 8 June 2012

In Memoriam: Professor Philip Tobias
Friday, 8 June 2012

UNESCO mission assesses earthquake damage to sites in northern Italy
Thursday, 7 June 2012
The World Heritage Committee will consider the inscription of 36 sites on the World Heritage List during its next meeting from 24 June to 6 July, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.
The forthcoming 36 th session of the Committee , an independent body of 21 States Parties to the 1972 World Heritage Convention , will be chaired by. Eleonora Mitrofanova, Ambassador Permanent Delegate ...

World Heritage Inventory of Earthen Architecture available online
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
The Government of Mali and UNESCO have defined measures to safeguard World Heritage Properties in the north of Mali, including the fabled city of Timbuktu, following reports of wilful damage to mausoleums in the World Heritage site.
UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Africa, Lalla Aicha Ben Barka, travelled to Bamako (18 – 20 May) and met senior government officials ...

Launching Of The Rivers And Heritage Website
Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Director-General concerned about attacks on World Heritage site of Ghadamès (Libya)
Tuesday, 22 May 2012

UNESCO monitors damage to heritage in northern Italy following powerful earthquake
Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Living with World Heritage Conference examines sustainability and local involvement
Thursday, 17 May 2012

New Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape
Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Irina Bokova concerned about growing threats to cultural heritage in Mali
Friday, 4 May 2012
The World Heritage property “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” has received £537,185 (US$ 850,406) in funding from SITA Trust to underwrite a conservation project that will restore dilapidated portions of the site located in the United Kingdom. The project will be administered by Hadrian’s Wall Heritage.
Originally inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987 as ...

Recommendations for transnational heritage corridors of Silk Roads site nomination
Friday, 20 April 2012

Sydney Opera House, other sites participate in Earth Hour 2012
Monday, 2 April 2012

UNESCO Director-General expresses concern about the situation in Mali
Monday, 2 April 2012

Director-General of UNESCO appeals for protection of Syria’s cultural heritage
Friday, 30 March 2012

Archaeological discoveries
Friday, 30 March 2012

International World Heritage Expert Meeting on criterion (vi)
Friday, 30 March 2012
UNESCO committed to stronger links between World Heritage and Tourism
Wednesday, 28 March 2012

From World Heritage to Literacy, Philadelphia Embraces UNESCO
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
With a stunning visit to the Everglades the day before serving as a strong reminder, Director-General Irina Bokova turned her attention to a private-public sector roundtable on World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism in Miami on Monday. Joining a panel of local leaders in the tourism industry and conservation, the Director-General highlighted the importance of better integrating cultural ...

World Heritage sites participate in Earth Hour
Wednesday, 28 March 2012

GIS boundaries of natural and mixed World Heritage sites available
Thursday, 22 March 2012

Jaeger-LeCoultre auction benefits Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park
Thursday, 22 March 2012

Rapid Response Facility helping combat Mt. Kenya fires
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
The World Heritage Centre took part in a Conference organized by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) and the Municipality of Venice on "Building Cities Resilience to Disasters in Europe: Protecting Cultural Heritage and Adapting to Climate Change" (Venice, 19-20 March 2012).
Part of the international campaign called "Making my City Resilient - My City is Getting ...

UNESCO World Heritage Youth Storyboard Korean Competition (2012)
Friday, 16 March 2012

In Memoriam: Professor Herb Stovel, conservationist
Thursday, 15 March 2012
The National Park Service of the United States of America is celebrating the World Heritage Convention with events throughout the year. For more information, there is an interactive website:
http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/World_Heritage_Anniversary.htm
The World Heritage Centre has just been informed that a Ministerial Order, signed on 1 September 2011, delivers to SOCO (South Africa Congo Oil) a Certificate of Environmental Acceptability in order to exercise an oil exploration campaign by the acquisition of aeromagnetic and aerogravimetric data in block V of the Albertine Rift (Virunga National Park), Democratic Republic of Congo ...

International World Heritage Expert Meeting on Integrity for Cultural Heritage
Monday, 12 March 2012

Aztec Ruins hosts World Heritage celebration
Thursday, 8 March 2012
On 6 March 2012, Liverpool City Council’s Planning Committee granted outline planning permission for the Peel Holdings £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme. The permission is subject to the signing of a legal agreement and has to be referred to the Government which will decide whether a public inquiry will be held.
Experts from UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and from the International ...
Brunei Darassalam and Palestine ratify the World Heritage Convention
Thursday, 8 March 2012

Construction of a women’s dyeing factory in Bamako
Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Patrimonito Korean National Storyboard Competition 2012 - Winners
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Thanks to Quindío being declared as part of the UNESCO World Heritage property, Coffee Cultural Landscape (Colombia), the exploration of hydrocarbons in this area has been stopped by order of the Council of State. The decree was issued less than eight days ago and demands the suspension of all exploration by the National Agency of Hydrocarbons and the Drilling 2010 consortium in the ...
Nominations open for the 2012 MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity
Friday, 2 March 2012
A joint international expert mission to the World Heritage property of Great Barrier Reef by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is taking place from 5 to 14 March 2012.
The World Heritage Committee, at its 35th session in June 2011 (Paris) examined the state of conservation of Great Barrier Reef (Australia), inscribed on the ...

3-month trip to India's 28 World Heritage sites
Friday, 2 March 2012

The World's Heritage co-published by UNESCO and Collins
Thursday, 1 March 2012

Patrimonito and Docomodake bring World Heritage sites to young people
Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Expert Working Group releases recommendations for Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan
Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Heritage Heals in Hiraizumi
Monday, 13 February 2012

Panasonic Eco Picture Diary Global Contest Ceremony held at UNESCO Headquarters
Thursday, 9 February 2012
The Retezat Massif has received a Rapid Response Facility (RRF) grant to undertake urgent snow-tracking surveys in response to a road-building threat through the Carpathian Mountains. This protected area is on Romania’s World Heritage tentative list, and is known for its plant diversity, endemism and rich fauna, including the Eurasian eagle-owl, the gray wolf and the brown bear.
The ...

UNESCO and Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock launch 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention
Wednesday, 1 February 2012

World Heritage Convention turns forty
Monday, 30 January 2012
On November 16, 1972, the international community took a historic step towards safeguarding core, irreplaceable elements of our global heritage when the General Conference of UNESCO adopted the World Heritage Convention. Since then, more than 188 countries have ratified the Convention, and more than 936 separate sites around the world have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. As ...

ICOMOS advisory mission to the World Heritage site of Seville
Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Rapid Response Facility awards grant to Côte d'Ivoire component of Mount Nimba
Friday, 13 January 2012

Panasonic 2012 World Heritage calendar released in online version
Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Marine Programme - Newsletter January 2012
Friday, 23 December 2011

Best Wishes 2012
Friday, 23 December 2011

World Heritage Volunteers 2012
Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Kernavė Archaeological site in Lithuania granted “enhanced protection” in the event of armed conflict
Thursday, 15 December 2011

London 2012 Torch Relay to pass through Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site
Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Italy announces support to UNESCO for Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Myanmar
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Palestine and the World Heritage Convention
Monday, 12 December 2011

Panasonic sponsors The World Heritage Special on National Geographic Channel in 183 countries
Friday, 2 December 2011

3rd annual Business Skills for Natural World Heritage Site manager training event held
Tuesday, 29 November 2011

UNESCO and Italy agree to cooperate on the restoration of Pompeii
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Scotland hosts global conference on remote access to World Heritage sites
Thursday, 24 November 2011

UNESCO World Heritage app downloaded over 13,000 times
Friday, 18 November 2011

Presentation ceremony held to recognize tri-national World Heritage site
Friday, 18 November 2011

State of Conservation of World Heritage Forests report launched
Thursday, 10 November 2011
In June 2011 UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and Turismo de Portugal, the Portuguese Tourism Authority, signed an agreement engaging in a cooperation project on capacity-building for tourism management in World Heritage sites of Portuguese origin. This project is an integral part of the continuous cooperation that is being carried out by the World Heritage Centre and Portugal, ...

The G-77 & China at UNESCO celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention
Monday, 7 November 2011

2011-2012 World Heritage Map Available
Monday, 7 November 2011

UNESCO kicks off 40th anniversary celebration of World Heritage Convention
Monday, 7 November 2011

Nine members elected to World Heritage Committee
Monday, 7 November 2011

Elwha River Restoration project underway at Olympic National Park, USA
Thursday, 3 November 2011

Fires at the World Heritage site of Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island (Réunion, France)
Wednesday, 2 November 2011

SIDS Capacity-Building Programme established
Tuesday, 1 November 2011

Floods at Cinque Terre World Heritage site
Monday, 31 October 2011
UNESCO has invited experts from both inside and outside of Libya to urgently examine the preservation of cultural heritage in the country, notably measures to safeguard cultural sites; prevent illicit trafficking, protect museums and strengthen cultural institutions in the wake of civil strife and the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime. The meeting - the first on protecting Libyan cultural ...

First International Purple Economy Forum held
Friday, 21 October 2011

Flooding in Thailand
Friday, 14 October 2011

Cape Floral Region Protected Areas get Conservation Boost from World Heritage Centre Partner
Friday, 14 October 2011

Training in marine spatial planning of World Heritage marine sites in Mexico
Wednesday, 12 October 2011

A 7000 Euro Grant For The Realization Of A Cultural Project Concerning The Mediterranean World
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Severe damage to Philippine Rice Terraces by two typhoons
Monday, 3 October 2011

Satellites and World Heritage sites, partners to understand climate change
Tuesday, 27 September 2011

The World Heritage Centre and History® to raise awareness about preservation across the globe
Friday, 16 September 2011
UNESCO's Commitment to Action for the cultural recovery of Jacmel (Haiti) has been accepted by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). The project was seeking USD 500,000 matching funds to an initiative of USD 1,000,000 to support the culture sector in Jacmel, which was badly affected by the earthquake of January 2010.
In a project building on various assets of the culture sector, UNESCO ...

Grand Canyon National Park Hosts U.S. World Heritage Fellow
Monday, 22 August 2011
UNESCO Headquarters, Rooms XII, 7 to 9 November 2011
The General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage will hold its 18th session during the 36th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, from 7 to 8 November 2011 all day and 9 November only in the afternoon, at UNESCO Headquarters, Room XII.
The General Assembly ...

"I Know Where I'm Going”- Remote Access to World Heritage Sites from St Kilda to Uluru Conference
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
[in French only] Lettre d'information de la Convention France-UNESCO N°19
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
The most important triennial gathering of ICOMOS will take place from 27 November to 2 December 2011 for the first time in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters.
The General Assembly is accompanied by a Scientific Symposium on the theme "Heritage: Driver of Development". Both events are open to ICOMOS members and non-members alike.
Visit the special website www.icomos-paris2011.com to consult the ...
UNESCO Havana, Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, is pleased to introduce module 6 of the Caribbean Capacity Building Programme (CCBP) for World Heritage, Natural Heritage Management.
The CCBP Training Modules is composed of a core and mandatory training module on the Application of the World Heritage Conventio n and a series of other modules focusing on the ...

Decisions by 35th session of the World Heritage Committee online
Friday, 15 July 2011
In February, the United Republic of Tanzania submitted a request for a minor modification to the boundaries of the Selous Game Reserve. The 50000 km2 Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest remaining wilderness areas in Africa, harboring the largest remaining elephant population of Africa and has been inscribed on the World Heritage List since 1982. The request for modification of ...

Report of impact of tsunami on Galápagos wildlife
Thursday, 7 July 2011
After a rigorous selection process, a total of 18 managers from five World Heritage sites in Africa were recently selected for admission into the World Heritage Centre / Earthwatch / Shell 2011 "Business Planning for natural World Heritage site managers" programme. First offered in South East Asia in 2009 and 2010, this year's programme will focus on Africa. The programme ...
Memorandum of Understanding Outlines Concrete Joint Initiatives
UNESCO and the World Bank have cooperated informally over the past decades, in particular on conservation efforts in the World Heritage sites. Today the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing that on-going collaboration and expanding it to encompass a larger strategic scope.
Thanks to this Memorandum ...

Tides of Time Partners Renew Commitment to Marine World Heritage until 2014
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Four new sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
The World Heritage Committee has inscribed a total of 25 sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List, including three natural properties, 21 cultural and one mixed site. Two properties were added to the World Heritage List in Danger and one was removed from that list. The World Heritage List now numbers 936 properties: 183 natural sites; 725 cultural; and 28 mixed.
Natural properties:
Ningaloo ...

Sites in Ethiopia, Kenya and Viet Nam inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Monday, 27 June 2011

Six new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Monday, 27 June 2011
The Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova has expressed her deep regret following the declaration of the Thai Minister Suwit Khunkitti during the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee being held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 19 to 29 June 2011, on the intention of Thailand to denounce the 1972 World Heritage Convention.
Irina Bokova reiterated that "The World ...
The World Heritage Committee has inscribed three new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List so far today: the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany as an extension to the World Heritage site of Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians (Slovakia, Ukraine), Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, the first heritage site of Barbados to enter the World Heritage List; and Hiraizumi – Temples, ...
The Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia (Colombia), the Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe (Sudan), Wadi Rum Protected Area (Jordan) and The Longobards in Italy, Places of Power , 568 – 774 A.D. (Italy), and the Fagus Factory in Alfeld (Germany), have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Inscriptions will continue on Monday.
The Coffee Cultural Landscape of ...
The World Heritage Committee has inscribed the West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, comprising the West Lake and the hills surrounding its three sides, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.The inscribed landscape has inspired famous poets, scholars and artists since the 9th century. It comprises numerous temples, pagodas, pavilions, gardens and ornamental trees, as well as causeways and ...

Japan's Ogasawara Islands on UNESCO's World Heritage List
Friday, 24 June 2011

Senegal’s Saloum Delta inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Friday, 24 June 2011

Contested Tanzania highway project will not cross Serengeti National Park
Friday, 24 June 2011
The World Heritage Committee has inscribed the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley (Kenya) and Australia's Ningaloo Coast on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley (Kenya), a natural property of outstanding beauty was the first to be added to UNESCO's World Heritage List during the current Committee session. It comprises three inter-linked ...

Danger listing for Indonesia’s Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
The Honduran World Heritage site of Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve , one of the few tropical rainforest remains in Central America, has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in Danger to mobilize support for its preservation.
The government of Honduras requested the World Heritage Committee to place the property on the List in Danger in view of the combined threats of ...
Significant improvements in the preservation of Manas Wildlife Sanctuary have allowed for its withdrawal from the List of World Heritage List Danger.
Situated on the foothills of the Himalayas the Manas sanctuary, home to a great variety of wildlife, including many endangered species, such as the tiger, pygmy hog, Indian rhinoceros and Indian elephant, was inscribed on the List in Danger in ...
The future of the World Heritage Convention ahead of its 40th anniversary next year and the growing challenges of heritage preservation were the key themes of the opening addresses of the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO in Paris today. The session will end on 29 June.
The Chairperson of 35th session, Shaikha Mai bint Muhammad Al Khalifa, Minister of Culture of the ...

'Our Place' Photo Exhibit at 35th session of World Heritage Committee
Monday, 20 June 2011
The MEA Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) Initiative brings together the UN, UNESCO, FAO and UNEP, and 12 global UN Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) to develop harmonized and interoperable information systems in support of knowledge management activities among MEAs for the benefit of Parties and the environment community at large. The Initiative is facilitated and ...
Since the early 1980s, forty-three marine sites have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, covering about 1.4 million km2 of ocean surface - an area about the size of the Gulf of Mexico. Each of these forty-three sites represents exceptional features in the ocean - features that are recognized by the international community for their outstanding natural beauty, exceptional ...
UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and Panasonic Corporation on 3 June announced a strategic partnership agreement to promote sustainable development through World Heritage conservation and environmental education for the next generation.
"This new partnership with Panasonic will strengthen our ability to accomplish our mission," said Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General. "It's an excellent ...

First South-East Europe World Heritage Youth Forum
Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Parks Canada wins conservation award; celebrates 100 years
Friday, 20 May 2011
[in French only] « Construire ensemble l'avenir des sites patrimoniaux : élaborer et mettre en œuvre une gestion durable pour un site patrimonial ».
Abbaye de Cluny - Bourgogne, France, du 4 au 10 décembre 2011 et immersion du 12 au 14 décembre 2011 dans un site partenaire.
Thème : Construire et mettre en œuvre un plan de ...

International Conference "What is the fate of Public Art?"
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal was inscribed onto the List of World Heritage sites In Danger in 2007 due in large part to intensive poaching pressures. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had been supporting anti-poaching patrols for several months in the park, but financing is expected to run out at the end of May. The government of ...
Some fifty potential Silk Roads Heritage Corridors have been identified, with twenty corridors being considered as a medium priority, while three corridors within the five Central Asian countries and China are recommended as a top priority for the first phase of the serial and trans-boundary World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Roads at the 2nd meeting of the Coordinating Committee of ...

UNESCO World Heritage sites iPhone and iPad Application from HarperCollins
Monday, 16 May 2011

World Migratory Bird Day 2011 observed 14-15 May in over 50 countries
Friday, 13 May 2011

Dr Kenton R. Miller, nature conservation leader and former IUCN Director General, dies
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
The UNESCO - FFI - UNF Rapid Response Facility awarded an emergency grant to the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania this week in response to its request for assistance in dealing with a sudden rise in the killing of elephants linked to an increase in Human / Elephant Conflicts on the border of Udzungwa Mountains National Park. The park is part of the Eastern Arc Mountains ...
Remarkable natural and cultural properties from 40 countries will be considered for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during the meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Paris (19 – 29 June).
Six of these countries stand to have properties inscribed on the World Heritage List for the first time during the forthcoming session: Barbados, Jamaica, Micronesia, Palau, ...

Jaeger-LeCoultre auction proceeds support Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary
Wednesday, 4 May 2011

World Heritage Memory Net Launched
Friday, 29 April 2011
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has released the results of its rhinoceros census in Nepal, reporting a reported 23% increase in rhino numbers in this World Heritage site since the last census taken in 2008. Numbers increased from 408 to 503. WWF reports that these numbers reflect the success of conservation efforts for this species and are a result of improved rhino ...
Expert Working Group releases recommendations for Safeguarding Bamiyan
Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Conclusions of the Second HERITY International Conference
Wednesday, 20 April 2011

UNESCO for Haiti. 19 April 2011
Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Call for applications for the IV° edition of the Master in "World Heritage at Work"
Thursday, 7 April 2011

Rapid Response Facility Supports Post Tsunami Recovery in Galápagos
Tuesday, 5 April 2011

2010 - 2011 World Heritage map now available
Monday, 4 April 2011
Statement from the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee
Thursday, 31 March 2011

Kishore Rao appointed Director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today called on both Libya and the coalition of States implementing a no-fly zone over the country to respect the Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) and its two (1954 and 1999) Protocols, as appropriate, and keep military operations away from cultural sites.
Of the ten states that make up ...
In view of the forthcoming 11th World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in Sintra (Portugal), 22 to 25 November 2011, the OWHC has launched a Call for Posters on the congress theme World Heritage Cities and Climate Change.
This Call addresses all those who are engaged in the conservation and management of a World Heritage City - public servants and administrators, ...
Statement of the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee
Monday, 21 March 2011
Arab States meeting held to define regional programme
Friday, 18 March 2011
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that the government of the DRC has suspended prospection for oil at Virunga National Park , inscribed as on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1979.
"I welcome the suspension of exploration activities. This ...
35th session of the World Heritage Committee to meet in Paris in June 2011
Friday, 18 March 2011

UNESCO World Heritage Centre expresses its solidarity with Japanese people following tragic events
Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Tsunami Spares Galapagos Wildlife, but Destroys Marine Laboratory
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
[in French only] Newsletter N° 18 de la Convention France UNESCO
Friday, 11 March 2011

Resource Manual 'Preparing World Heritage Nominations' available online
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Afghan officials and international experts outlined plans for the future safeguarding of the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of Bamiyan Valley (Afghanistan) at the end of two meetings at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 2 to 4 of March. The meetings were held on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the tragic destruction of the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan.
The ...
UNESCO will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the tragic destruction of the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan with a forum on the event and a two-day experts' meeting which will examine ways to preserve and present to the public the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley.
Ahead of the 10th anniversary, the Director-General, who will open the commemoration at ...

Statement from the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee on the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Sustainable Indicators in World Heritage Urban Areas, Mexico City, Mexico
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
The International Meeting "The Chinchorro Culture from a Comparative Perspective ", took place in Arica, Chile, 5-8 January, 2010.
As a result of this meeting the World Heritage Centre is preparing a publication that will work in tandem in support of the process of the preparation of the nomination file of the Archaeological sites of the Chinchorro culture, Chile, focusing on ...

UNESCO Special Envoy on Preah Vihear to meet with prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia
Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Lightning damages Pratapur Temple of Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site, Nepal
Wednesday, 16 February 2011

UNESCO Director-General to send Special Envoy to Bangkok and Phnom Penh
Thursday, 10 February 2011

UNESCO to send mission to Preah Vihear
Tuesday, 8 February 2011

Director-General expresses alarm over escalation of violence between Thailand and Cambodia
Sunday, 6 February 2011

Cultural heritage update for Egypt
Thursday, 3 February 2011

World Wetlands Day is 2 February
Wednesday, 2 February 2011

UNESCO Director-General launches heritage and press freedom alert for Egypt
Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Three guards and five soldiers killed in attack at Virunga National Park (DRC)
Friday, 28 January 2011

Last Call: Caribbean Heritage Course in Curaçao
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Colorado State University (USA) offers Spanish-language course on Protected Area Management
Monday, 17 January 2011

Kinshasa Declaration to protect DRC World Heritage sites signed
Friday, 14 January 2011

Rescuing the Congo's natural world heritage
Friday, 7 January 2011

Two rhinos translocated to Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
Tuesday, 4 January 2011

2011 is the International Year of Forests
Monday, 3 January 2011

Panasonic World Heritage calendar released in online version
Monday, 3 January 2011

Best Wishes from the World Heritage Centre 2011
Saturday, 1 January 2011

Strengthening the Crown Jewels of the Ocean
Monday, 20 December 2010

'Tides of Time Archive' now available online
Monday, 20 December 2010

Satellite analysis of global mangrove forests released
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
[in French only] Newsletter N° 17 de la Convention France UNESCO
Thursday, 9 December 2010

UNESCO sends expert mission to investigate state of Pompei’s conservation
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Three World Heritage sites in Cyprus and a fourth in Italy have been given "enhanced protection" status by the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which held its fifth meeting at UNESCO Headquarters from 22-24 November. The sites, which are the first to be granted this status, are Choirokoitia, Paphos (sites I and II) and the Painted Churches of ...

Plans underway for the creation of an International World Heritage Rock Art Archive
Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Monnaie de Paris produces diamond-studded Taj Mahal coin
Monday, 22 November 2010

Rapid Response Grants awarded to protect elephants, help with oil spill clean-up
Friday, 19 November 2010

Caribbean Heritage Course in Curaçao
Friday, 19 November 2010

In memoriam: Andrzej Stanislaw Tomaszewski 1934 - 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Managing Historic Cities, World Heritage Series n°27
Monday, 8 November 2010
On 2 November 2010, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, and Kris Peeters, Minister - President of the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium), signed an agreement establishing a Trust Fund that will support UNESCO's activities in the field of heritage.
This is the third Trust Fund signed between UNESCO and the Government of Flanders. It bears witness to the trust and interest ...

Go4BioDiv International Youth Forum held for natural World Heritage sites
Thursday, 28 October 2010

World Heritage at the COP 10 in Nagoya, Japan
Friday, 22 October 2010

Fire ravages heart of La Réunion National Park
Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Information note on proposed highway in Serengeti National Park
Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Youth from around the world concerned with biodiversity protection unites in Japan
Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Director-General calls for cooperation regarding the preservation of the Old City of Jerusalem
Tuesday, 19 October 2010

A 7000 € grant for a project awarded to a young person from the Mediterranean
Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Message from the Director of the World Heritage Centre on the toxic spill in Hungary
Friday, 8 October 2010

World Sky Race event is launched in Times Square, New York City
Thursday, 7 October 2010

Inauguration of the transboundary Wadden Sea World Heritage site
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
In an effort to involve young people in the decision-making process and present their experience in biodiversity conservation, young conservationists representing natural World Heritage sites are invited to an International Youth Forum from 16-29 October at Mt Fuji and Nagoya, Japan. Held in parallel to the Convention for Biological Diversity's 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) in Japan, the ...

“Heritage and Development: diversity as an alternative”, publication of the proceedings
Thursday, 30 September 2010

UNESCO launches safeguarding project at New Gourna Village, part of Ancient Thebes World Heritage site
Thursday, 30 September 2010

World Heritage Sites Around the World: Photo Exhibition by Tom Till
Friday, 24 September 2010

Charter of commitment for the management of World Heritage sites in France signed by the Minister of Culture
Tuesday, 21 September 2010

UNESCO and the Smithsonian sign a Memorandum of Understanding for cultural and natural heritage
Tuesday, 21 September 2010

Serious flooding at the Historic Monuments Zone of Tlacotalpan (Mexico) World Heritage property
Thursday, 16 September 2010

Rapid Response Facility contributes to project near La Amistad Biosphere Reserve (Panama)
Wednesday, 15 September 2010

[in French only] Les Villes françaises, une référence mondiale en matière de développement patrimonial
Friday, 10 September 2010

Finland applies Management Effectiveness Assessments to its Cultural World Heritage sites
Thursday, 9 September 2010

Preparatory Meeting for Latin American Periodic Reporting draws to a close
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
[in French only] Newsletter N°16 de la Convention France UNESCO
Wednesday, 1 September 2010

Second Phase of ‘Business Skills for Natural World Heritage Site Managers programme’ begins
Monday, 30 August 2010

New website on Ireland’s World Heritage sites launched
Monday, 23 August 2010
In addition to their dramatic consequences for the affected people, to which the World Heritage Centre expresses its sincere sympathy, the massive floods which have recently struck Pakistan are causing great concern for the state of conservation of the World Heritage property of Mohenjodaro. The Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro display the remains of one of the most important urban centre ...
For the second time during 2010, news of massive floods across Central Europe is causing great concern to the World Heritage community, for their impacts on the border region between the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland.
In particular, the flooding has affected the castles and gardens of the transboundary World Heritage site of the Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski (Germany/Poland), a ...
The Minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Shaikha Mai bint Mohammad Al Khalifa, has been named new Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee. She replaces the Minister of Culture of Brazil, João Luiz da Silva Ferreira, who has chaired the Committee for the past 12 months.
The Committee nominated Shaikha Mai bint Mohammad Al Khalifa by acclamation on the last day of their ...
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia today inscribed a natural site in the Russian Federation on the World Heritage List and has approved the Italian extension of a natural site in Switzerland.
The two sites concerned (in order of inscription)
Monte San Giorgio (Italy) (Extension of «Monte San Giorgio », Switzerland)
Monte San Giorgio is a pyramid-shaped, ...

World Heritage Committee inscribes a total of 21 new sites on UNESCO World Heritage List
Monday, 2 August 2010
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia has today approved extensions to three cultural sites in Austria, Romania and Spain.
The approved extensions include (in order of inscription):
City of Graz - Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg (Austria) (extension of "City of Graz - Historic Centre")
Graz is an exemplary model of the living heritage of a central European urban complex ...
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia has today has inscribed three new cultural sites, including two in Mexico and one in Brazil. It also inscribed three natural sites in China, Kiribati, Reunion Island (France) and extended a site already on the World Heritage List in Bulgaria.
The cultural sites are (in order of inscription):
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Mexico)
Camino Real ...
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia today inscribed the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania) as a cultural property on the World Heritage List. The Committee made its decision because of the extraordinary record of human evolution at the site, which spans a vast area of land from the Serengeti National Park in the north-west of Tanzania to the eastern arm of the Great Rift ...

World Heritage Committee inscribes seven cultural sites on World Heritage List
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi (Viet Nam) becomes 900th site on UNESCO World Heritage List
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia has inscribed new cultural sites in Viet Nam, China, Tajikistan, France, the Netherlands, on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Committee also agreed to the extension of two cultural properties in Germany, Norway.
The latest cultural sites ...
The World Heritage Committee, holding its 34th session chaired by João Luiz da Silva Ferreira, the Minister of Culture of Brazil, inscribed the Everglades National Park (United States) on the List of World Heritage in Danger, because of serious and continuing degradation of its aquatic ecosystem.
The inscription was made at the request of the United States. It's the second ...
The World Heritage Committee holding its 34th session chaired by João Luiz da Silva Ferreira, the Minister of Culture of Brazil, has inscribed the Rainforests of the Atsinanana (Madagascar) on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of illegal logging and hunting of endangered lemurs on the site.
The Committee noted that despite a decree outlawing the exploitation and export of ...

World Heritage Committee inscribes two new sites on World Heritage List
Friday, 30 July 2010
The World Heritage Committee holding its 34th session chaired by João Luiz da Silva Ferreira, the Minister of Culture of Brazil, has inscribed the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi (Uganda) on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee also decided to remove the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) from this List.
In March 2010, fire almost completely destroyed the Muzibu Azaala Mpanga ...
The World Heritage Committee, holding its 34th session chaired by João Luiz da Silva Ferreira, the Minister of Culture of Brazil, has inscribed the site of Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery (Georgia) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Committee expressed its serious concern about irreversible interventions carried out on the site as part of a major reconstruction ...
Thirty-nine nominations from 33 countries will be considered for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List during the meeting of the World Heritage Committee underway in Brasilia. Three of the countries - Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tajikistan - have no properties inscribed on the World Heritage List to date.
The Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova and Brazil's Minister of Culture ...
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and the Minister of Culture of Brazil, João Luiz da Silva Ferreira today signed an agreement establishing a regional heritage management training centre in Rio de Janeiro. The new centre will help Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia to implement the the World Heritage Convention.
This is the sixth such ...

World Heritage Mission to Haiti
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
A new project for the conservation and management of Lumbini, the Birthplace of Lord Buddha, one of the UNESCO World Heritage properties in Nepal has been launched on 16 July 2010 in Kathmandu with the signing of the Plan of Operation by the Government of Nepal and UNESCO. The project will be coordinated by the UNESCO Kathmandu office in close collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and ...

Managing Disaster Risks for World Heritage Resource Manual
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
The Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention are now available in Portuguese.
The Operational Guidelines define specific criteria for the inscription of sites on the World Heritage List as well as for the provision of international assistance under the World Heritage Fund. They were revised in 2007 by the World Heritage Committee at its 31st Session in ...

UNDP launches the second edition of “Picture this”
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Equatorial Guinea ratifies World Heritage Convention
Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Joint Workshop establishes successful basis to scale-up marine World Heritage
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List when it meets for its 34th session in Brasilia (Brazil), from 25 July to 3 August.
During this year’s session - to be chaired by João Luiz Ferreira, the Brazilian Minister of Culture and President of the World Heritage Committee - 35 States Parties to the ...
Comoé National Park in Côte d'Ivoire lies in a region particularly affected by the Ivorian civil war, which lasted for five years until 2007. A World Heritage site since 1983, it was added to the In Danger list in 2003.
During the conflict, park management authorities in Comoé were effectively forced to abandon their operations, so there were few, if any, deterrents to ...
UNESCO today received a petition of signed by 125,000 people around the world protesting against the re-opening of a paper and pulp mill on the shores of Lake Baikal, a World Heritage site in the Russian Federation.
The petition was presented to UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Francesco Bandarin, by Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), who agreed to bring it to ...

World Heritage in the Congo Basin
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
New web-tool shows critical migratory waterbird sites need urgent protection
Wednesday, 23 June 2010

2nd Ibero-American Youth Forum held Aranjuez, Spain
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
World Heritage site managers of 22 States Parties have been meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon, since 21 June, 2010, to advance in the preparation of periodic reports in French and Portuguese-speaking African countries.The three-day sub-regional meeting, organized by the World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Office in Yaoundé, was inaugurated on Monday 21 June 2010 by the Minister of ...
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has launched an international storyboard competition for the creation of the next episode of the animated series Patrimonito's World Heritage Adventures.
The competition invites young people to express their ideas in the form of a storyboard for the Patrimonito's World Heritage Adventures animated series. In the coming days, 187 National Commissions - every ...

Call for project proposals financed by the African World Heritage Fund
Monday, 21 June 2010
Since the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee (Seville, 2009), the World Heritage Centre and IUCN have received a large number of letters from individuals who are concerned about the state of conservation of the the World Heritage property Lake Baikal (Russian Federation), and in particular about the re-opening of the Baikalsk Paper and Pulp Mill (BPPM) and its likely impacts on the ...
The World Heritage Centre of UNESCO has welcomed the support given by the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, to the World Heritage Committee's decision regarding "The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and the Related Group of Monuments" which requested that work on the construction of the Okhta Centre Tower be suspended and that new designs reducing the building's ...

Damage to the Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua as a result of tropical storm Agatha
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
The news of massive flooding across Eastern Europe, and the threat that this poses to World Heritage sites in Poland has caused great concern to the World Heritage community. We deeply deplore the loss of lives in this natural disaster. The floods are the worst to occur in Poland since 1997, when 55 people died and nearly 50,000 homes were flooded. In 2002, a number of World Heritage sites ...

Call for Papers – Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
Thursday, 20 May 2010
During the Fifth Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France from 3-7 May, Mr. Yves Meylan, Director France of the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre gave a keynote address on private sector engagement for marine conservation. Mr. Meylan presented the innovative Tides of Time partnership among Jaeger-LeCoultre, the ...
[in French only] Newsletter N° 15 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Monday, 3 May 2010
Damage to Great Barrier Reef assessed; stricter shipping surveillance proposed
Monday, 26 April 2010

Jaeger-LeCoultre auction proceeds support Sundarbans National Park
Thursday, 22 April 2010
The conservation and preservation of cultural heritage is an interdisciplinary field requiring close cooperation between conservator-restorers, archaeologists, art historians, collection managers and museum curators on the one hand, and conservation scientists on the other.
In order to promote the synergy between the cultural heritage field, and the natural sciences and engineering, the ...
The call for applications for the 3rd edition of the Master programme on "World Heritage at Work", offered by the University of Turin, the Polytechnic of Turin and the International Training Centre of ILO, in collaboration with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, is now open.
The programme is intended for professionals involved in the management of a World Heritage ...

UNESCO recommends reconstruction of Ugandan World Heritage Site
Wednesday, 14 April 2010

WHC Director Francesco Bandarin appointed new UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
On 12 April 2010, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and the Governor of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, Amália García Medina, signed the Agreement establishing, in Zacatecas, the Regional World Heritage Institute as a category 2 institute under the auspices of UNESCO.
The Regional Institute of Zacatecas, which will be located in the ‘Casa del Conquistador’, the ...
The Rapid Response Facility (RRF) has awarded Belizean conservation group Wildtracks with a grant to assess proposed dredging and mangrove clearance within Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, affecting what may be the only breeding location for the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in Belize.
Corozal Bay and the adjacent Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve, which forms part ...
With the objective of addressing issues related to the preservation of Bolivian World Heritage properties, the Head of the Latin America and Caribbean Unit of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Ms Nuria Sanz, met with the new Minister of Culture, Ms Zulma Yugar, during her recent visit to the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
The property of Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the ...
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, today expressed her sorrow over the tragic fire that ravaged the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi, a World Heritage site in Uganda, and the deaths of two people in protests that followed the blaze. She made an appeal for calm and said UNESCO stands ready to help Ugandan authorities to assess damages and plan remedial action at this major religious ...

Jaeger-LeCoultre launches its second online auction for the preservation of World Heritage sites
Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Damage to Chilean heritage sites evaluated after earthquake
Friday, 5 March 2010

2009-2010 World Heritage map now available
Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Pilgrims killed in stampede at Djingareyber Mosque in Timbuktu
Friday, 26 February 2010
At a year-end strategy discussion, Shell, Earthwatch and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre evaluated the results of the first year of work under their five-year programme of collaboration to enhance the business skills of managers of World Heritage sites. During the first year, nine World Heritage site managers from three sites in South East Asia had received training in ...

Director-General of UNESCO deplores loss of life and offers support after collapse of Meknes minaret
Monday, 22 February 2010

'World Heritage Papers Series No. 26: Cultural Landscapes' now available online
Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Damage evaluated at Machu Picchu after torrential rains
Friday, 12 February 2010

Establishment of Category 2 Centres on World Heritage officially launched
Thursday, 11 February 2010
[in French only] Newsletter N°14 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Monday, 1 February 2010
Alpine Convention and World Heritage Convention Secretariats Meet
Monday, 1 February 2010

February 2nd is World Wetlands Day
Monday, 1 February 2010
The latest World Heritage site to benefit from the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) is the Belize Barrier Reef System (BBRS). Recognized in large part for its extensive coral reef and mangrove ecosystems, this property is particularly vulnerable to siltation of the clear tropical waters on which it depends. The RRF was approached by the Ya'axché Conservation Trust (YCT), ...

Torrential rains cause death and damage at Peruvian World Heritage sites
Thursday, 28 January 2010

Heritage in Haiti
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
The Belgian government has recently given its financial support to the 3rd phase of the project "Biodiversity Conservation in Regions of Armed Conflict: Conserving World Heritage sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo" with a total amount of 2 million Euros.
The five World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, National Parks Virunga, Kahuzi-Biega, Garamba and Salonga, ...
National Government Officials and World Heritage site managers, essentially from 24 countries in the Asia and the Pacific Region, but also from other continents of the world, gathered together at the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (WHITRAP, China) and participated in an Asia-Pacific Regional Training Workshop on Assessment of ...
Germany gives 3.2 million dollars for the safeguarding of Ivorian parcs and reserves
Friday, 18 December 2009

Director General presents UNESCO climate change initiative at Copenhagen Conference
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Restoration works continue despite violent storms at the Great Mosque of Djenné
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Enhancing our Heritage Toolkit now available in Spanish
Monday, 14 December 2009

UNESCO saddened by loss of Goodwill Ambassador Professor Ikuo Hirayama
Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Google and UNESCO announce alliance to provide virtual visits of several World Heritage sites
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Natural Science courses open at the new Jurassic Studies Centre in Lyme Regis
Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Ifugao Province, Philippines and Italy's Cinque Terre Park sign Twinning Program
Monday, 30 November 2009
Exhibition of Aksum Obelisk Re-installation opens in Rome
Thursday, 26 November 2009

Business Skills training sessions begin for World Heritage sites
Friday, 13 November 2009

'Patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO : les sites marocains' is published
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
The General Assembly of States Parties to the 1972 World Heritage Convention replaced more than half the 21 members of the World Heritage Committee during its biennial session, which took place at UNESCO Headquarters from 23 to 28 October. The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the Convention. The General Assembly also focused on the priorities to be set in implementing the ...
Poland is the Denkmal national partner 2010
Thursday, 29 October 2009

Twelve members elected to World Heritage Committee
Tuesday, 27 October 2009

UNESCO and online travel giant TripAdvisor launch World Heritage partnership
Friday, 23 October 2009

A 7000 Euro Grant For the Realization of a Cultural Project Concerning the Mediterranean World
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Representatives from the national, regional and local authorities led by Spain's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Ambassador María Jesús San Segundo, met Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre, on 8 October to discuss the conservation of the World Heritage property of "Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture".
The meeting focused on preparations of a joint expert ...
The 35th session of the General Conference is meeting from 6-23 October 2009, and the 17th General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will meet from 23 to 28 October 2009 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
At the General Conference, a feasibility study on the desirability of a new UNESCO Recommendation on the conservation of the Historic Urban Landscape ...

2010 UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary Published
Thursday, 1 October 2009

'The World's Heritage' co-published by UNESCO and Harper Collins
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
World Heritage Centre signs agreement with DBU for site conservation in Europe
Thursday, 10 September 2009

Rapid Response Facility launches new website
Tuesday, 8 September 2009

Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report published
Monday, 7 September 2009
On 21 July 2009, the Algerian Ministry of Culture and the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) signed a cooperation agreement with the support of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The ceremony took place in Algiers with the participation of the Algerian Ministry of Culture's Director of International Cooperation, the Ambassador of France, the President of INRAP ...
[in French only] Newsletter N°13 de la Convention France UNESCO
Monday, 31 August 2009

Marine spatial planning and World Heritage
Monday, 24 August 2009

10th Anniversary of the France-UNESCO Convention
Monday, 17 August 2009
"Why do I have mangoes in July?" was the title of one of the presentations at a three-day expert seminar on climate change education at UNESCO HQ in Paris, which brought together 60 experts in climate change, education for sustainable development and curriculum development, in particular coming from Small Islands Developing States.
"Global warming is the defining issue of our time. ...
Originally published in 2007 in English, this publication has now been reprinted for the third time in English and translated into French and Spanish. It presents twenty-six case studies from selected natural and cultural World Heritage sites in order to illustrate the impacts of climate change that have already been observed, and those that can be expected in the future. This is a foundation ...

TripAdvisor pledges support to World Heritage
Monday, 20 July 2009
The Sacred City of Caral-Supe (Peru), the oldest centre of civilization in the Americas, was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee, chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO. The Committee also added the historic centre of the town of Levoča to the Slovak World Heritage site of ...
Georgia’s Historical Monuments of Mtskheta inscribed on Danger List
Sunday, 28 June 2009
The World Heritage Committee holding its 33rd session chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, has inscribed two new natural sites and 11 cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Since it also withdrew one site - from the List, Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany), the List now numbers a total of 890 properties.
The ...
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, under the chair of María Jesús San Segundo, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, has decided to inscribe Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System and Colombia's Los Katios National Park on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The main problem with Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System concerns mangrove cutting and ...

Stoclet House (Belgium) inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Saturday, 27 June 2009
The World Heritage Committee, chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, has inscribed a Spanish lighthouse dating back to antiquity, The Tower of Hercules in La Coruña, on the World Heritage List alongside the watch-manufacturing towns of La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle watch-making town-planning (Switzerland).
The Tower ...
The World Heritage Committee, chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, has inscribed Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal (United Kingdom) on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and added France’s Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains as an extension to the site of Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, which was inscribed in 1982 ...

China’s sacred Buddhist Mount Wutai inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Friday, 26 June 2009
On 13 March 2009 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the latest maps of World Heritage sites produced by the Belgian universities of Louvain (UCL) and Gand (UGent), with the financial support of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) were officially presented to the Congo Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN).
The General Director for the ICCN, Mr Cosma ...
The World Heritage Committee, chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, has inscribed the Wadden Sea on the World Heritage List as a transboundary property for Germany and the Netherlands.
The Committee also inscribed Italy's Dolomites mountains and the Philippines' Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park as an extension to the Tubbataha ...
The Tides of Time programme, initiated in 2008 through a partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre and the International Herald Tribune, has entered its second year.
The year began with coverage of sites such as Sian Kaan in Mexico and the Everglades in the USA. Other sites including the Atoll of Aldabra (Seychelles), Sundarbans (Bangladesh/India), Shiretoko (Japan), and the Peninsula Valdez ...

Cidade Velha becomes Cabo Verde's first World Heritage site
Friday, 26 June 2009

Ruins of Loropéni (Burkina Faso) inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Friday, 26 June 2009
Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain of Kyrgyzstan has become the country’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, Bridges, dams, canals, buildings and watermills from ancient time to present (Iran) and the Royal Tombs of the Joseong Dynasty (Republic of Korea) were also added to the List on Friday.
Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain (Kyrgyzstan) ...
10th Weimar Summer Courses, “Milestones of Democracy – European Memories 2009”
Thursday, 25 June 2009
The World Heritage Committee has welcomed the success of the authorities of Azerbaijan in preserving the Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshahs' Palace and Maiden Tower (Azerbaijan), and decided to remove the property from UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.
The site, which sustained damage during the earthquake of November 2000, was inscribed on the Danger List in 2003. The site ...

Dresden is deleted from UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Thursday, 25 June 2009
The 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee, chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, opened today in Seville, Spain. During the session, which ends on June 30, the Committee´s 21 members will review the state of conservation of properties inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and 27 nominations for new ...
José Maria and José, founders of the ICE CARE project, left UNESCO Headquaters in Paris this morning following a meeting with Mr Kishore Rao, Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre, to begin their 4 year project at five of the World Heritage Glaciers. The purpose of the expeditions will be to raise awareness about the threats to these melting ice caps. It is upon reading ...

1st Ibero-American World Heritage Youth Forum
Thursday, 18 June 2009
On 12 June 2009, the Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Francesco Bandarin and the Director-General of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), Halit Eren signed a cooperation agreement in Istanbul, Turkey, within the framework of the UNESCO-IRCICA Mou signed in 2005 by the Heads of the two Organizations.
The World Heritage Centre and IRCICA have ...
Nahanni National Park Reserve is expanded
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Director-General visits four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in northern Portugal
Friday, 5 June 2009
Artist for Peace Missa Johnouchi visits UNESCO
Thursday, 4 June 2009

UNESCO and Chile Launch Ecotourism Training Project on Easter Island
Friday, 29 May 2009
The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List when it meets for its 33rd session in Seville, Spain, from 22 to 30 June.
During this year's session - to be chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO - 35 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will ...
In memoriam: Michel Parent
Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Business Skills for World Heritage Training Programme Launched
Friday, 15 May 2009

Registration deadline for the master's degree course "World Heritage at Work"
Thursday, 30 April 2009

World Heritage Scholarships in U.S. National Parks
Monday, 27 April 2009

Director-General inaugurates exhibition celebrating re-installation of the Aksum Obelisk
Thursday, 23 April 2009
With the financial support of the World Heritage Fund, as well as national organizers of India, the final of a series of "Itinerant Workshops on the Conservation and Management of Persian, Timurid and Mughal Architecture", has successfully taken place in Delhi and Agra, from 6 to 12 April 2009 in India. It was jointly organized by the World Heritage Centre, the Archaeological Survey of India ...

UNESCO presents exhibition on reconstruction of Aksum obelisk
Monday, 20 April 2009
World Heritage Centre expresses condolences for victims of earthquake in Italy
Monday, 20 April 2009

World Heritage Centre signs agreement with INRAP for site conservation
Thursday, 16 April 2009

7th Meeting of the Liaison Group of the Biodiversity-related Conventions held
Friday, 10 April 2009
This lecture presents a brief history of attitudes to conservation in the 20th Century - the key concepts underpinning the Venice Charter (1964) UNESCO recommendations on historic areas (1976) and the Lahore recommendations on historic cities (1980).
Professor Lewcock chronicles these changes in his own experiences in Cairo (1972-1984) and Uzbekistan (1970-1996) and he discusses in detail ...
UNESCO was recently informed of two serious threats at the Marojejy and Masoala national parks in the north of Madagascar, which are part of the recently inscribed Rainforests of Atisnanana World Heritage site.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in June 2007 during the 31st session of the World Heritage Committee, the site is composed of six ...

50th anniversary of Nubia Campaign
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
From 16 to 19 March 2009, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, paid his third official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was accompanied throughout his visit by Mr Ziad Bin Abdullah Aldrees, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to UNESCO.
On 17 March, the Director-General was received by HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud, ...
The World Heritage site of the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in the Philippines will benefit from the total amount of £13,540 collected through an auction organized in February by the Swiss watch company Jaeger-LeCoultre, within the framework of the partnership with UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and the International Herald Tribune.
The purchase of a watch designed to celebrate this ...
18 students from Greenland visited the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on 16 March 2009 to learn more about World Heritage, the Arctic and climate change. They were briefed about the expert workshop on World Heritage and the Arctic (Narvik, Norway, 2007), received a copy of the proceedings (see: /) which were published in 2008 thanks to the generous support of the Prince Albert II Foundation of ...

International Workshop and Expert Meeting held on Starlight Reserves and World Heritage
Thursday, 19 March 2009
The International Workshop and Expert Meeting "Starlight Reserves and World Heritage - scientific cultural and environmental values", was held in Fuerteventura, Spain from 10-11 March 2009, and attended by 32 participants and experts from 10 countries. Participants were representatives of private organizations, enterprises, the tourism industry, NGOs, scientific bodies and research ...
"For her work on the evolution of the stars from the birth of the universe to the present time." (Jury Citation, General Public)
"For her work on the chemical composition of old stars and its relevance to the formation and evolution of galaxies." (Jury Citation, Scientific Public)
Who She Is
Professor Barbuy was born in Brazil, and received her doctorate degree from the University of Paris ...

Jean-Michel Jarre becomes Artistic Director of the World Sky Race
Thursday, 26 February 2009

Artist for Peace Ms Missa Johnouchi supports World Heritage
Monday, 23 February 2009

Bridge Collapses at Hampi World Heritage Site (India)
Friday, 13 February 2009
Devastating fire at the Royal Palaces of Abomey (Benin)
Friday, 13 February 2009
Joint efforts for the preservation of World Heritage in Mozambique
Friday, 13 February 2009

Jaeger-LeCoultre watch to be auctioned for World Heritage preservation
Thursday, 12 February 2009

2008-2009 World Heritage map now available
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
[in French only] Newsletter n° 12 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Monday, 9 February 2009

Cook Islands ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Sunday, 1 February 2009

The Silk Road: An AMNH/UNESCO World Heritage Expedition through Central Asia
Monday, 26 January 2009

UNESCO Lima seeks international specialists for World Heritage sites
Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Garamba National Park (DRC) attacked by LRA rebels
Wednesday, 7 January 2009

European Commission contributes €2.5 million to Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative
Friday, 19 December 2008
The Australian Funds-in-Trust, established in August 2008 between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Australian Government, has been increased. A sum of $AUS830,000 has been added to the Australian Government's first generous contribution of $AUS2.5 million. From the Funds-in-Trust, $AUS1.13 million will be used to support the development of a conservation and management ...

World Heritage Publications available in Bulgarian
Friday, 12 December 2008
Béthanie Wins UNESCO Heritage Award
Wednesday, 3 December 2008

UNESCO signs partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Tuesday, 2 December 2008

UNESCO-ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission to the World Heritage site of Edinburgh
Thursday, 20 November 2008
The devastating fires that raged across Greece in the summer of 2007 seriously affected the World Heritage site of Olympia, stopping short of destroying its Museum and archaeological area, which could only be saved thanks to the strenuous efforts of the responsible authorities. Disasters such as the one that threatened Olympia are in fact increasing, including as a result of climate ...

[in French only] Newsletter n° 11 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Monday, 3 November 2008

Declaration by the UNESCO Director General concerning Virunga National Park, World Heritage site
Thursday, 30 October 2008
UNESCO and the IAU sign key agreement on Astronomy and World Heritage
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Five young heritage professionals from Canada, Egypt, Hungary, Peru, and Zimbabwe, received UNESCO-Vocations Patrimoine fellowships to pursue post graduate research at University College Dublin (Ireland) and at the Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus (Germany) in a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters on the evening of 22 October.
The fellowships were awarded by the Organization's ...

World Heritage Centre Receives World Tourism Award
Monday, 20 October 2008

Places of Wonder and Discovery, the first book published by Our Place, is now available
Monday, 20 October 2008

2009 UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary Published
Monday, 20 October 2008

World Heritage Review n°51 - World Heritage and Spiritual Heritage
Monday, 20 October 2008
Australian Funds-in-Trust Agreement created to support World Heritage activities
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Netherlands FIT to enhance management effectiveness at Borobudur
Wednesday, 15 October 2008

Spain Honors the UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Monday, 13 October 2008

Violent clashes in southern sector of Virunga National Park
Friday, 10 October 2008

UNESCO and World Air League join forces to promote lighter-than-air transportation
Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Jaeger-LeCoultre and International Herald Tribune provide support to World Heritage Marine Programme
Friday, 12 September 2008

Inauguration Ceremony for the Aksum Obelisk
Friday, 5 September 2008
[in French only] Newsletter n° 10 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Friday, 8 August 2008

Mission accomplished: Aksum Obelisk successfully reinstalled
Friday, 1 August 2008
Second block of Aksum Obelisk successfully re-installed
Monday, 28 July 2008
The World Heritage Committee has asked that “reinforced monitoring” be applied to four properties on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in addition to the seven for which the surveillance mechanism is already in place.
Under the new monitoring mechanism, established by the World Heritage Committee in 2007, regular missions can be dispatched to World Heritage sites subjected to ...
Three new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Twenty-seven new sites inscribed
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec City has added eight new cultural sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List on the morning of the 7 of July. With these inscriptions, Papua New Guinea and San Marino enter the World Heritage List for the first time.
The new sites inscribed are:
Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia) have developed over ...
The World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 32nd session, inscribed 13 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in the afternoon and evening of 7 July. The nomination of new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List will continue tomorrow morning, 8 July.The new sites inscribed are:
Preah Vihear Temple (Cambodia). Situated on the edge of a plateau that dominates the plain of ...
The mountain of Le Morne, a former hideout of runaway slaves in Mauritius, a Nabataean archaeological site in Saudi Arabia and earthen houses in Fujian Province in China have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.Le Morne Cultural Landscape, a rugged mountain that juts into the Indian Ocean in the southwest of Mauritius was used as a shelter by runaway slaves, maroons, through ...
Armenian monasteries in Iran added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Sunday, 6 July 2008
Avian Malaria found in Galápagos Penguins
Friday, 4 July 2008
The World Heritage Committee has decided to retain Dresden Elbe Valley on UNESCO World Heritage List in the hope that the building of a four-lane bridge across the valley will be stopped and work undertaken to reverse damage caused to the integrity of the landscape of the German site.
The Committee said it regretted the construction of the bridge underway and urged the authorities to opt for ...
32nd Session of World Heritage Committee opens in Quebec
Thursday, 3 July 2008
The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List when it meets for its 32nd session in Québec, Canada, from 2 to 10 July.
During this year’s session, hosted by Canada to coincide with the 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Québec City, 41 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention ...

First phase of Aksum Obelisk re-installation successfully completed
Monday, 23 June 2008

News from the Our Place-World Heritage Centre Partnership
Friday, 6 June 2008

Loss and Damage Assessment after China Earthquake
Friday, 6 June 2008

Discovering and Preserving World Heritage sites with Indiana Jones
Friday, 6 June 2008
The "Policy document on the impacts of climate change on World Heritage properties", adopted by the 16th General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, has been published in English and French.The document was prepared with the participation of relevant climate change experts and practitioners of heritage conservation and management, appropriate international ...

ICOMOS Study “Cultural Landscapes of the Pacific Islands” Published
Tuesday, 3 June 2008

Re-installation of Aksum Obelisk to begin soon
Friday, 23 May 2008
Fire damages recently restored Liverpool landmark
Thursday, 15 May 2008

New Publication on Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountains
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
New Master Course in "World Heritage at Work" Accepting Applicants
Tuesday, 13 May 2008

Fire threatens Garajonay World Heritage site, Spain
Tuesday, 29 April 2008

New Episode of Patrimonito's World Heritage Adventures on Protecting Mountain Gorillas
Friday, 25 April 2008
Training World Heritage site managers is one of the most valuable investments in heritage conservation, particularly as these sites confront the challenges of increasing flows of tourism and diminishing flows of international assistance for conservation and management. This is why UNESCO's World Heritage Centre has joined forces - for the third year running - in an innovative ...
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today voiced concern about damage caused to the Castello di Moncalieri, in the Italian Province of Turin, inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1997. A fire broke out on 5 April causing severe damage to the royal apartments and to several floors in one of the watchtowers of the building, a former residence of the House of ...
[in French only] Newsletter n° 9 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today expressed his deep regret at the destruction of Québec’s ancient drill hall, a landmark adjacent to the Historic District of Old Québec, which was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985.“I deeply regret the destruction of this important landmark,” said the Director-General. “It is particularly sad that this proud testimony of ...
New European Network for Landscape launched in Florence
Wednesday, 2 April 2008

UNESCO and Fine Arts Department Launch New Website for Sukhothai, Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
As part of the ‘Initiative for World Heritage Forests in Central Africa' , UNESCO's World Heritage Centre organized an expert workshop on March 13-14 in Brazzaville (Congo) to identify the most outstanding protected areas in the Congo Basin and to study their complementarity with sites in the region already inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The workshop was inaugurated by a speech ...

Ecuador’s “Galápagos Invasive Species” Fund gets injection of US 2.19 million dollars
Wednesday, 19 March 2008

World Heritage Centre ends 2008 map mailing campaign
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
[in French only] Les 10 et 11 mars 2008 la troisième session du Comité de pilotage annuel de l'initiative pour le Patrimoine Mondial Forestier d'Afrique Centrale (CAWHFI) s'est tenue à Brazzaville, sous la Présidence de la Commission des Forêts d'Afrique centrale (COMIFAC). Cette initiative vise à renforcer la gestion durable de trois complexes ...

See World Heritage sites in 360 degree imaging at non-profit website
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
The international mission of experts sent to review plans to build a bridge in the cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany) in early February is recommending that the plan be abandoned in the interest of preserving the outstanding universal value that warranted the inscription of the site on UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2004.For more information please see: UNESCO press ...
Cyclone Jokwe
Saturday, 8 March 2008
In November 2007, UNESCO and the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee regretted the decision of a German court to authorize the construction of a bridge likely to lead to the deletion of the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany) from the World Heritage List. The status of the property on UNESCO's World Heritage List will be reviewed by the World Heritage Committee at ...
Call for Entries: 2008 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation
Friday, 18 January 2008
UNESCO has confirmed the World Heritage Committee's decision of July 2007 to request the authorities of the Russian Federation to halt the planned construction of a tower in the Historic Centre of St. Petersburg as the project threatens the outstanding universal value of this property.During an official visit to Moscow from 6 to 10 December 2007, Francesco Bandarin, Director of ...

2007-2008 World Heritage Map Available
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, one of the world's largest nature conservation organizations, and with Washington State University is pleased to announce the launch of an online course entitled ‘Business Planning - Achieving Sustainable Financing for Protected Areas'.Designed to provide comprehensive and rigorous training for natural ...
[in French only] Newsletter n° 8 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Friday, 4 January 2008

Best Wishes from the World Heritage Centre
Friday, 21 December 2007

United Nations 62nd General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Bangladesh was struck by a powerful cyclone on November 15 which left more than 3,000 people dead and millions without shelter. While a major international relief effort is currently underway to respond Cyclone Sidr's devastating impact on life and property, UNESCO's World Heritage Centre also sent a team to the Sundarbans World Heritage site, which was badly hit by the disaster. Home ...
UNESCO regrets the U.K. government's decision to cancel the A303 Stonehenge Road Improvement scheme on the basis of cost concerns and hopes that another solution will be found to relieve traffic congestion around the World Heritage property of Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated sites. UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, which has been actively involved in finding a solution to this ...

Renewed fighting threatens mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park
Friday, 7 December 2007

Brasilia celebrates 20th anniversary as World Heritage site
Friday, 7 December 2007
Final “Sharing our Heritages” (SOH) master class in France and Belgium
Monday, 3 December 2007

Djibouti ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Friday, 30 November 2007
Inscription of Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Monday, 26 November 2007
UNESCO regrets the decision of a German court to authorize the construction of a bridge likely to lead to the deletion of the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany)* from the World Heritage List. The status of the property on the UNESCO's World Heritage List is due to be reviewed by the World Heritage Committee at its next meeting in July 2008.For more information please see: ...
Anna Amalia Library re-opens after extensive restoration
Monday, 5 November 2007
Restored Venaria Reale Palace re-opens
Monday, 5 November 2007
Five young heritage professionals from around the world received UNESCO-Vocations Patrimoine fellowships to pursue post graduate research at University College Dublin (Ireland) and at the Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus (Germany). The aim of the fellowships is to help prepare site managers to handle the growing threats to which World Heritage sites - 851 sites inscribed around the ...
Nine new members elected to World Heritage Committee
Friday, 26 October 2007
Members elected to World Heritage Committee
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
[in French only] 16e Assemblée générale des Etats parties à la Convention du Patrimoine mondial
Wednesday, 24 October 2007

UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2008 Now Available
Wednesday, 17 October 2007

Terrorist attacks damage Pakistan Buddha
Thursday, 4 October 2007

International Melina Mercouri Prize awarded to Russian Federation's Borodino Battlefield
Thursday, 4 October 2007
[in French only] Newsletter n° 7 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Monday, 1 October 2007

Donate online to support World Heritage conservation
Friday, 14 September 2007
Tragic accident at Kilwa Kisiwani World Heritage site
Friday, 7 September 2007

New Book on World Heritage Sites in the Philippines
Thursday, 30 August 2007

UNESCO Mission rallies support for the preservation of the mountain gorillas of the DRC
Thursday, 23 August 2007
UNESCO joins United Nations effort in response to Peruvian earthquake
Tuesday, 21 August 2007

Inscription of Lopé-Okanda site (Gabon) on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
"Journalisme et Patrimoine Mondial" just published
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Dubrovnik Saved from Wildfires
Tuesday, 7 August 2007

New Episodes of Patrimonito's World Heritage Adventures available
Tuesday, 7 August 2007

Winners of Patrimonito Storyboard Competition 2007 Announced
Thursday, 2 August 2007

Director-General voices concern over fate of Virunga National Park gorillas
Thursday, 2 August 2007

Virunga National Park: 4 more gorillas slaughtered
Friday, 27 July 2007
In order to avoid any damaging confusion, UNESCO wishes to reaffirm that there is no link whatsoever between UNESCO's World Heritage programme, which aims to protect world heritage, and the current campaign concerning "The New 7 Wonders of the World". This campaign was launched in 2000 as a private initiative by Bernard Weber, the idea being to encourage citizens around the ...
[in French only] Newsletter n° 6 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Thursday, 5 July 2007

Three new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Friday, 29 June 2007
Christchurch, New Zealand, 29 June - The World Heritage Committee inscribed 22 new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List during its ongoing session in Christchurch. The new inscriptions include 16 cultural, five natural and one mixed, cultural and natural property. In a decision unprecedented in the history of UNESCO's Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and ...
The World Heritage Committee today inscribed two natural sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List: Teide National Park (Spain); Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian (Slovakia, Ukraine). The Committee also inscribed the Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda (Gabon) as a mixed - cultural and natural - site. Four cultural sites were inscribed: the Richtersveld Cultural and ...

World Heritage Committee inscribes four new cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Thursday, 28 June 2007

Bosnian Bridge among five new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List this evening
Thursday, 28 June 2007
Christchurch, New Zealand, 28 June - The World Heritage Committee on Thursday took the unprecedented decision of removing a site from UNESCO's World Heritage List. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary (Oman), home to the rare antelope, today became the first site to be deleted since UNESCO's 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage entered into ...

World Heritage Committee approves Auschwitz name change
Thursday, 28 June 2007

Natural sites in Madagascar, China and Korea inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Christchurch, New Zealand - The World Heritage Committee today inscribed the Galápagos (Ecuador), and Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal) on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger with a view to mobilizing support for their conservation. Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 km from the South American continent, the 19 islands of the Galápagos and their surrounding marine reserve ...
Christchurch, New Zealand - The World Heritage Committee on Monday decided to keep Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany) on the List of World Heritage in Danger. But it asked Germany to provide an alternative solution to traffic management than the bridge currently planned in the site inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004. The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Christchurch for its ...

Royal Palaces of Abomey and Kathmandu removed from Danger List
Monday, 25 June 2007

Florida Everglades and Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve removed from Danger List
Sunday, 24 June 2007

World Heritage Committee opening in Christchurch
Saturday, 23 June 2007

UNESCO launches the re-erection project of the Aksum Obelisk
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Agreement to Eradicate Rabbits on Macquarie Island
Friday, 8 June 2007

Virunga National Park: Mountain gorillas remain target for armed groups
Friday, 8 June 2007

Torrential landslide at the Kamchatka Volcanoes World Heritage Site
Monday, 4 June 2007
Annual Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Award Winners Announced
Friday, 1 June 2007
The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of 45 new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List when it meets for its 31st session in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 23 June to 2 July.During the session, the Committee will also examine a strategy to reduce risks from disasters at World Heritage properties; the impact of climate change on World Heritage sites; and ...

‘Managing Rock Art World Heritage Sites’ Workshop Held
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Fire on Cutty Sark, of Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
At its first session in Algiers (Algeria), November 2006, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage accepted the generous offer of China to host an extraordinary session of the Committee (Decision 1.COM 8). During this session, the Intergovernmental Committee will pursue the discussions initiated in Algiers. The main participants of the first ...
The Government of China will launch a World Heritage Training and Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific Region in China. The inauguration ceremony of this institute will take place at Tongji University, Shanghai with the presence of Mr Francesco Bandarin, Director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Mr Mounir Bouchenaki, Director-General of the International Centre for the Study of the ...
The Prince of Wales received the UNESCO certificate for the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape during the inscription ceremony on 10 May 2007 at Cotehele House (Cornwall, United Kingdom). Dr Mechtild Rössler, Chief of the Europe and North America Section at the World Heritage Centre, highlighted in her speech the contribution the area had made to the industrial revolution and mining ...
Mr Francesco Bandarin, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, travelled to Nicosia, Cyprus, from May 8-10, 2007 to deliver the 4th Dinos Leventis Memorial Lecture. The lecture series is intended to commemorate the figure of Dinos Leventis, former Ambassador of Cyprus to UNESCO and founder of the internationally renowned Leventis Foundation, deceased in 2002. The lecture, entitled ...

“World Heritage Memory Net” is coming soon!
Thursday, 3 May 2007
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has written to Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to Jean-Marie Guehenno, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, asking for measures to stop the poaching and killing of endangered animals in the five World Heritage sites of the DRC.
The Director-General's ...
The annual steering committee of the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative (CAWHFI) took place in Libreville on March 21-22, 2007 under the aegis of the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC). This initiative aims to improve sustainable management of three forest landscapes of the Congo Basin: the Gamba-Conkouati complex, the Tri-National Sangha complex (TNS) and the ...

UNESCO sends mission to assess the state of conservation of Machu Picchu World Heritage Site
Thursday, 19 April 2007

UNESCO Mission confirms threat to Galápagos Islands
Monday, 16 April 2007

UNESCO-IUCN Mission to Galápagos Islands World Heritage Site
Thursday, 12 April 2007

Rapid Response Facility for World Heritage Biodiversity Sites Exceeds Target
Wednesday, 11 April 2007

'World Heritage: Challenges for the Millennium' Published in French and English
Tuesday, 10 April 2007

Climate change threatens UNESCO World Heritage sites
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Office in New York have received a large number of letters from individuals who are concerned about the state of conservation of the Church of St. Cyril - located near Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine- and in particular about planned reconstruction works in its interior.Please note that the Church of St. Cyril is not included in the ...
World Heritage site managers and people intending to pursue a career in World Heritage site management are being invited to apply for Fellowships offered through the UNESCO-VOCATIONS PATRIMOINE World Heritage Site Managers Programme. This programme - launched in January 2006 - is made possible as a result of an innovative public-private partnership between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ...
Old City of Jerusalem: Publication of UNESCO’s technical mission Report
Thursday, 15 March 2007
The following statement is issued by the Chairman of UNESCO's Executive Board, Mr Zhang Xinsheng. 1. The six Arab members of the Executive Board addressed a letter to the Chairman of the Executive Board on 14 February 2007, requesting that a special session of the Board be held on the subject of the activities under way at the site of the Old City of Jerusalem, in accordance with Rule 3 ...
Old City of Jerusalem: return of the technical mission’s experts
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
[in French only] Newsletter n° 5 de la Convention France-UNESCO
Monday, 5 March 2007

Royal Palaces of Abomey in Young African Hands
Thursday, 1 March 2007
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has decided to send a technical mission to the Old City of Jerusalem, inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and on the World Heritage in Danger List, to carry out a technical assessment of the works on the access to the al-Haram al-Sharif. Following extensive consultations with all the parties concerned, the Director-General requested ...
Huge Settlement Unearthed Near Stonehenge World Heritage Site
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Publication on Eco-tourism in Central and South Asia Available
Monday, 12 February 2007
Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO today offered the Organization's assistance in repairing damage caused by the fire that destroyed part of the historical city centre of Valparaiso, Chile, killing several people, on 3 February. "Firstly, I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this tragedy," the Director-General said. ...
On Tuesday 8 February 2007, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, expressed his "deep concern over the work initiated by the Israeli authorities on the site of the Old City of Jerusalem, which is protected by the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). By virtue of this Convention, the site is inscribed on the World Heritage ...
'Management and Preservation of Historic Cities on World Heritage List' Conference Held in St Petersburg
Thursday, 1 February 2007
Concern for World Heritage site after British Coast Cargo Spill
Wednesday, 24 January 2007

Situation Worsens at Virunga National Park (DRC): Two Male Gorillas Killed
Friday, 19 January 2007
On 15 December 2006, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, and Ambassador Tatjana Gjonaj, Permanent Delegate of Albania to UNESCO, signed an agreement establishing a Funds-in-Trust in favour of the restoration of the historical centre of Gjirokastra inscribed on the World Heritage List since 2005.Mrs Blegina Agalli, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, Youth and ...
The Anna Amalia Library, part of the World Heritage site of Classical Weimar which was inscribed on the UNESCO List in 1998, will reopen in October 2007, three years after it was damaged by a fire. According to the architect in charge of the restoration works, Mr Walther Grundwald, the deadline should be respected. "We have chosen the date of 24 October for the re-opening, as it is the ...
Statement of the Director-General of UNESCO: Transmitting the past without alteration or omission
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Conclusions of the First HERITY International Conference
Saturday, 9 December 2006

2006-2007 World Heritage Map Available
Friday, 1 December 2006

New cooperation agreement signed between Belgian Science Policy Office and World Heritage Centre
Friday, 24 November 2006

Hippo Massacre in Virunga National Park (DRC): UNESCO Reacts
Thursday, 23 November 2006

Jet Tours and World Heritage Centre Implement Safeguarding Projects
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
New Report on World Heritage and Climate Change
Thursday, 9 November 2006

Preserving Congolese Heritage in Armed Conflict
Monday, 6 November 2006

UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2007 Now Available
Tuesday, 31 October 2006
UNESCO and Partners Demonstrate Space Technologies for Monitoring World Heritage
Saturday, 7 October 2006
Handbook on Cultural Heritage and Local Development for African Local Governments Published
Friday, 29 September 2006
No Survivors of WWF Helicopter Crash in Nepal
Monday, 25 September 2006

Sao Tome and Principe ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Thursday, 21 September 2006
Nominations for the prize have to be at UNESCO by 1 November 2006!The purpose of the Melina Mercouri International Prize (UNESCO-Greece) is to reward outstanding examples of action to safeguard and enhance the world's major cultural landscapes. The prize, which consists of a certificate and of the sum of US$20,000 U (for 2007), may be awarded either to an individual or to a group of ...
UNESCO Mission reports on war damage to cultural heritage in Lebanon
Tuesday, 19 September 2006

A 7000 Euro Grant for the Realization of a Cultural Project Concerning the Mediterranean World
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
A Virtual Tour of World Heritage Sites
Wednesday, 13 September 2006

TourismAfrica 2006 Promotes African World Heritage
Tuesday, 12 September 2006
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today announced that the Organization will send a mission of experts, from September 10 to 16, to assess the potential damage caused to cultural sites in the recent conflict in Lebanon.
The mission will, among other things, visit UNESCO's World Heritage sites of Tyre, Baalbek and Byblos. Tyre and Baalbek, first built by the Phoenicians grew ...
Decisions adopted at the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee now available online
Friday, 25 August 2006

UNESCO Director-General launches “heritage alert” for the Middle East
Friday, 11 August 2006
2006 International Youth Camp Held for Restoration of Khami Ruins National Monument
Thursday, 3 August 2006

Worldwide photography project launched in support of World Heritage
Wednesday, 2 August 2006
Dresden City Council Votes Against Bridge Construction at World Heritage Site
Friday, 21 July 2006
New Sites Added to the World Heritage List 2006
Friday, 21 July 2006
UNESCO Courier, Virtual visit to five new World Heritage Sites
Thursday, 20 July 2006
UNESCO and its long standing media partner EVERGREEN Digital Contents have launched a new partnership through a project aiming to promote World Heritage Education in Japan. The project focuses on raising the awareness of elementary school students about natural World Heritage sites and issues concerning them. As a part of this partnership, a new i-mode site was developed for NTT DoCoMo called ...
The 30th meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Vilnius, Lithuania has been discussing the state of conservation of natural and cultural World Heritage sites. On Monday evening, delegates had the opportunity to hear about a joint IUCN and UNESCO project which is not only helping improve conservation on the ground but providing a consistent information base for reporting on the management ...
The World Heritage Committee Thursday inscribed ten new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. A number of outstanding proposals for inscription are to be discussed in the afternoon. The new sites inscribed are:Sewell Mining Town (Chile). Situated 85 km south of the capital, Santiago in an environment marked by extreme climate more than 2,000 m up the Andes, Sewell Mining Town was built ...
The World Heritage Committee Thursday decided to extend the site inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004 as Dečani Monastery (Serbia) and place it on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee also extended Andorra‘s site of Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley (Andorra), adding a buffer zone to the property that was listed in 2004. These inscriptions end additions and changes ...
The World Heritage Committee Wednesday added eight new sites and one extension to UNESCO's World Heritage List and removed the archaeological site of Tipasa (Algeria) from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee will continue discussing new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List tomorrow. Below are the sites added to the World Heritage List Wednesday:Sichuan Giant ...
The World Heritage Committee decided Tuesday to place the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley on the List of World Heritage in Dangerwith a view to avert plans by the municipality of Dresden to build a bridge over the Elbe on the site.
The Committee decided that plans to build a bridge across the Elbe would have such a serious impact on the integrity of property's landscape that it may ...
World Heritage Committee adopts strategy on heritage and climate change
Monday, 10 July 2006

30th session of World Heritage Committee opens in Vilnius
Monday, 10 July 2006
Improved conservation allowed the World Heritage Committee to remove Cologne Cathedral (Germany), Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal), the Group of Monuments at Hampi (India) and Ichkeul National Park (Tunisia), from the List of World Heritage in Danger on Monday. The debate on the List of World Heritage in Danger will continue tomorrow. The decision by the authorities of Cologne to ...

World Heritage Committee to inscribe new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Tuesday, 4 July 2006

Economy Minister Confirms French Commitment to Protect Congo Forests
Thursday, 8 June 2006
Having been identified as a cross-cutting theme for global biodiversity conservation initiatives at the Fifth World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa (2003) the World Heritage Convention, one of the five international conventions addressing biodiversity needs, serves as an instrumental action-orientated mechanism for the protection of the world's most valuable natural resources and ...

World Heritage in Young Hands Kit Available in Hungarian
Wednesday, 17 May 2006

Guinea-Bissau ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Thursday, 11 May 2006
Launch of African World Heritage Fund
Wednesday, 3 May 2006
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, and the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, Ina Marčiulionytė, today welcomed the decision by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, to change the course of an oil pipeline being built across Siberia to eliminate potential risk to the World Heritage site of Lake Baikal. "I wish to congratulate President Putin for ...

"Promoting and Preserving Congolese Heritage" Publication Now Available
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
Swaziland ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Friday, 14 April 2006
Cities Named '2010 European Capital of Culture' include World Heritage sites
Wednesday, 12 April 2006
Mali Launches Development of Timbuktu Management and Conservation Plan
Monday, 10 April 2006
World Heritage Centre Recognizes First World Migratory Bird Day
Sunday, 9 April 2006
Opportunities for Small Islands States to Nominate Marine World Heritage Sites in the Caribbean
Wednesday, 5 April 2006
Nature Conservation NGOs Pledge to Support World Heritage and Biodiversity Conventions
Tuesday, 4 April 2006
New Centre for World Heritage Studies at University of Minnesota, USA
Friday, 24 March 2006
The Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, Ina Marčiulionytė, has sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, concerning the state of conservation of the World Heritage site of Lake Baikal.The World Heritage Committee, the intergovernmental body established by the World Heritage Convention, regularly examines the state of conservation of properties ...
A two-day expert meeting on World Heritage and Climate Change successfully concluded at UNESCO Headquarters on Friday, bringing together over 50 representatives from the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, various international organizations, non-governmental organizations, the advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee, and academic and scientific experts to discuss current ...
The Basic Texts of the World Heritage Convention Available in Portuguese
Monday, 20 March 2006
Co-sponsored Fellowships for World Heritage Site Managers
Thursday, 16 March 2006

Second Spanish Edition of World Heritage in Young Hands Kit
Tuesday, 7 March 2006

Information Related to the World Heritage Convention Available in Arabic
Monday, 6 March 2006

First Steering Committee of the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative
Wednesday, 1 March 2006

Rapid Response Facility Launched for Natural World Heritage Sites
Thursday, 23 February 2006
Meeting Held to Support Implementation of Biological Diversity Convention Programme
Thursday, 23 February 2006

Poster Competition Raises Awareness of Samoan Heritage
Tuesday, 21 February 2006
UNESCO Presents Design for Reinstallation of Aksum Obelisk
Thursday, 16 February 2006
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the publication of the 2006 World Heritage map, the first to be produced in collaboration with National Geographic and Hewlett Packard. The partnership, signed in 2005 for an initial period of three years, combines National Geographic's famous cartography with Hewlett Packard's quality print technology to beautifully illustrate ...

Jane Goodall receives UNESCO’s 60th anniversary medal
Thursday, 19 January 2006
On Friday November 25, 2005, the French Global Environmental Fund (FGEF) approved the financing of an ambitious project of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. This project aims to improve the conservation and sustainable management of wildlife in the forest landscapes surrounding some of the major tropical forest national parks of the Congo Basin. With a € 2.5 million budget, this project will ...

Ten years of decentralised cooperation between the cities of Chinon and Luang Prabang sponsored by UNESCO
Thursday, 22 December 2005

Workshop Held for Identification of Cultural World Heritage in the Pacific Region
Thursday, 22 December 2005
The Fourth Expert Working Group on the Preservation of the Bamiyan Site was successfully held in Kabul/ Aghanistan from 7 to 10 December 2005. Afghan and international experts working on the safeguarding of Bamiyan issued a list of concrete recommendations for further activities to preserve the site. The Expert Working Group was formed in 2002 within the framework of the coordination mandate ...
Goldman Sachs declares World Heritage sites “off limits”
Tuesday, 20 December 2005
Town of Bamberg Spared Construction Project Potentially Harmful to World Heritage Values
Friday, 9 December 2005
Cultural and Ecotourism Developments in Central Asia
Friday, 9 December 2005

Fourth Expert Working Group on the preservation of the Bamiyan World Heritage site
Wednesday, 7 December 2005
[in French only] Le Centre du Patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO, l’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, l’Union mondiale pour la nature, African Parks Foundation et Fauna and Flora International déterminés à sauver les derniers rhinocéros blancs du Nord du site du patrimoine mondial de la Garamba (République démocratique du Congo) Début septembre 2005, les autorités congolaises ...

UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2006
Monday, 28 November 2005
World Heritage Alliance launched
Friday, 18 November 2005

Second training workshop for Jet tours guides held at UNESCO HQ
Tuesday, 25 October 2005
The 15th ICOMOS General Assembly and the International Scientific Symposium with the theme Monuments and Sites in their Setting: Conserving Cultural Heritage in Changing Townscapes and Landscapes were officially opened on 17 October in Xi’an, China. A special celebration marking ICOMOS’s 40th anniversary and an exhibition on its achievements during its existence are planned during the meeting ...

Final Result of the election to the World Heritage Committee
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
Results of the election to the World Heritage Committee
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
Election to the World Heritage Committee
Monday, 10 October 2005
[in French only] UNESCO Flash Info : A l’heure où la protection du patrimoine mondial occupe une place sans cesse croissante dans les préoccupations de la communauté internationale, se tient à l’UNESCO, la quinzième Assemblée générale des Etats parties à la Convention de 1972 pour la protection du patrimoine mondial, culturel et naturel. L’Assemblée générale, qui se réunit, tous les deux ans, ...
Results of the election to the World Heritage Committee
Monday, 10 October 2005
15th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention
Saturday, 8 October 2005
Final Decisions of the 29th Session of the World Heritage Committee now available
Thursday, 29 September 2005
Nova Scotia Provincial Government buys 17 waterfront properties in the Town of Lunenburg, Canada
Friday, 23 September 2005
China's Pingyao forms yoke of friendship with Provins of France
Friday, 16 September 2005
Biodiversity-Related Conventions Speak on Millennium Development Goals
Monday, 12 September 2005
Hurricane Katrina Causes Damage to Everglades National Park
Wednesday, 7 September 2005
The historical village of Maymand in southern Iran will be awarded the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes (UNESCO Greece) in a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters on September 7.
Durban (South Africa) – The World Heritage Committee, chaired by Themba Wakashe, South Africa’s Deputy Director-General for Heritage and National Archives, today inscribed 17 cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The World Heritage List now numbers 812 sites in total, which includes: 628 cultural; 160 natural and 24 mixed sites in 137 States Parties. With ...
Durban (South Africa), The World Heritage Committee chaired by Themba Wakashe, South Africa’s Deputy Director-General for Heritage and National Archives, today inscribed seven natural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The Committee also made decisions concerning two natural sites already on the List. The one is extended in size while the inscription of the other under cultural criteria ...

Three sites withdrawn from UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger
Wednesday, 13 July 2005

New Sites to be Inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List
Thursday, 30 June 2005

New findings from Peking Man site
Tuesday, 21 June 2005

Colleagues Honoured for 25 and 30 years at UNESCO
Tuesday, 14 June 2005
The Symposium, an activity of the World EXPO 2005 in Aïchi, Japan has opened today at the United Nations University, Tokyo, and will continue until 2 June. It aims to highlight the interrelationship between the natural and cultural diversity of our planet. Bringing culture and nature closer together in a comprehensive approach, the symposium will present case studies on sacred natural sites ...
Growing understanding that the outstanding universal value of urban heritage goes well beyond the value of the individual buildings it contains, has created a pressing need for internationally accepted guidelines and criteria for the preservation of historic city centres.
Conservationists, municipalities, architects and developers will address the issue at the Conference on World Heritage ...
Durmitor World Heritage site is no longer threatened
Monday, 25 April 2005
Major archaeological discoveries in Aksum
Monday, 25 April 2005

Aksum obelisk arrives in Ethiopia
Wednesday, 20 April 2005

Space branch of Chinese Science Academy joins UNESCO’s World Heritage Preservation
Friday, 15 April 2005
World Heritage Cities in Mauritania celebrated at UNESCO April 11 to 14
Thursday, 7 April 2005
Space technology to protect mountain gorillas
Wednesday, 6 April 2005

Paper Series N°12 "The State of World Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (2003)"
Monday, 4 April 2005

Trinidad and Tobago ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Monday, 4 April 2005
At the request of the Ethiopian and Italian governments, UNESCO will send an evaluation team to Aksum, in northern Ethiopia, to prepare the return of its celebrated obelisk. The obelisk has been in Rome since 1937.
UNESCO will draw up the re-installation project for the obelisk and the development of the site, which will be funded by Italy. The obelisk has been cut into three sections to ...

Sierra Leone ratifies the World Heritage Convention
Wednesday, 2 March 2005
Agreement between UNESCO and NASA will strenghten conservation of World Heritage
Tuesday, 1 March 2005
UNESCO Director-General attends World Heritage inscription ceremony in Saint Lucia
Friday, 18 February 2005
WHC participates in the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction
Monday, 7 February 2005
Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention
Wednesday, 2 February 2005
On 31 January 2005, the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced retired General Pavle Strugar of the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army to eight years in prison for war crimes perpetrated in 1991. He has been found guilty of war crimes against the civilian population and, under Article 3(d) of the Tribunal’s Statute, of the destruction of and wilful ...
The Curonian Spit, an elongated sand-dune peninsula straddling the border of Lithuania and the Russian Federation, will not be inscribed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. The decision follows an agreement between the two countries to undertake an environmental assessment of the impact of oil exploration and production in the Baltic Sea, 22 kilometres from the World Heritage site. ...
First meeting of experts on the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem
Wednesday, 26 January 2005
The decisions taken by the World Heritage Committee during its 7th Extraordinary Session, held in Paris from 6 to 11 December 2004, can now be consulted online ( whc04-7extcom-17e.pdf). During this important meeting, the Committee examined, among other things, the relations between the World Heritage Convention and other UNESCO conventions relating to heritage and considered proposals for the ...
Further information about damage to two World Heritage sites in Indonesia
Tuesday, 11 January 2005

World Heritage sites in regions hit by the recent earthquake and tsunami
Wednesday, 5 January 2005

Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola named UNESCO Artist for Peace
Tuesday, 4 January 2005

UNESCO offers tsunami assistance to countries in South Asia
Thursday, 30 December 2004

Protected Areas and World Heritage
Thursday, 23 December 2004

First anniversary of the earthquake at World Heritage city of Bam (Iran)
Thursday, 23 December 2004

UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2005
Tuesday, 14 December 2004
On Friday, 27 August 2004, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) President Katsuji Ebisawa held a public signing ceremony at NHK Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan to seal their new partnership agreement. Through the Heritage Images Archives Initiative, NHK is offering to contribute to the documenting and safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, ...
The opening and closure speeches as well as the PowerPoint presentations are now available on:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/events/95

Opening of the 7th Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee
Monday, 6 December 2004

Professor Chamaeleo, Ambassador at Large for Diversity
Thursday, 18 November 2004
Workshop Discusses World Heritage Nomination of Central Pacific Islands And Atolls from Kiribati
Friday, 22 October 2004

Three new publications in the World Heritage Papers Series
Friday, 22 October 2004
Safeguarding of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Toward an Integrated Approach
Wednesday, 20 October 2004

NHK - World Heritage on the screen
Friday, 15 October 2004

Launch of the book Les 200 plus beaux sites du monde
Thursday, 14 October 2004
Michel Batisse (1923-2004)
Thursday, 14 October 2004
New weekly radio chronicle on World Heritage sites
Monday, 11 October 2004
A 7000 Euro Grant For The Realization Of A Cultural Project Concerning The Mediterranean World
Thursday, 7 October 2004
On 6 October, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, opened an exhibition on "World Heritage Sites in Croatia" in the presence of Mr Krešimir Filipec, Assistant Minister of Culture; Ambassador Ritz, Permanent Delegate of Croatia to UNESCO; the Mayors of Dubrovnik, Split and Togir, as well as the Deputy Mayor of Poreć and the Director of Plitvice Lakes National Park ...

"Congo - Nature and Culture in the Democratic Republic of Congo"
Friday, 10 September 2004

Congo - Heritage in Danger
Wednesday, 8 September 2004
On Friday, 27 August 2004, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) President Katsuji Ebisawa held a public signing ceremony at NHK Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan to seal their new partnership agreement. Through the Heritage Images Archives Initiative, NHK is offering to contribute to the documenting and safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, ...

The 28th Session of the Committee
Wednesday, 28 July 2004

Periodic Report and Regional Programme: Arab States 2000-2003
Monday, 26 July 2004

New Chinese edition of UNESCO World Heritage Review
Friday, 16 July 2004
The ruins of the great sea-ports of Kilwa Kisiwani and of Songo Mnara situated off the coast of the United Republic of Tanzania were inscribed yesterday on the List of World Heritage in Danger by the 21-member World Heritage Committee, which is holding its annual meeting in Suzhou until July 7.
The Committee took this decision in response to threats to the integrity of the site, which was ...
World Heritage Committee sounds the alarm for Cologne Cathedral
Tuesday, 6 July 2004
Cambodia’s celebrated temples and palaces at Angkor were removed from UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger today, as were the Bahla Fort (Oman) and Rwenzori Mountains National Park (Uganda).
As it reviewed the state of conservation of World Heritage sites whose outstanding universal value is severely threatened, the 21-member World Heritage Committee meeting in Suzhou until July 7 ...

Iran's Ancient City of Bam among the 34 new sites inscribed on World Heritage List
Saturday, 3 July 2004
13 more properties added to World Heritage List at 2004 Committee session
Friday, 2 July 2004
First wave of new properties added to World Heritage List for 2004
Thursday, 1 July 2004

New properties to be added to World Heritage List
Tuesday, 22 June 2004
World heritage to the fore in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Friday, 11 June 2004

IUCN News
Friday, 11 June 2004

Jebel Ouenat Technical Report
Friday, 4 June 2004
Preparations for 28th Session of World Heritage Committee going smoothly
Sunday, 30 May 2004

Workshop on Conservation of the Kathmandu Valley (3-7 May 2004, Kathmandu, Nepal)
Wednesday, 26 May 2004

Promoting and Preserving Congolese Heritage
Wednesday, 19 May 2004
The 2nd workshop obtained excellent feedback from the fifteen Arab trainees nominated by their governments. Experts were again brought in from leading international institutions, including:
Department of Geography, University of Ghent
R. Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, University of Leuven
WCMC, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre
University of California, ...

ITB Features First Ever Unesco World Heritage Stand
Monday, 3 May 2004
2nd training workshop to be organized in the Arab region for the application of Information Management for World Heritage Sites, fucusing on nature.
This training to be organized from may 3 to 16, 2004 will gathered a group of trainees from different Arab Countries and known specialists on World Heritage environmental issues.
Announcing the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee
Wednesday, 28 April 2004
Deadline for submissions of entries for UNESCO Heritage Awards
Wednesday, 31 March 2004
UNESCO signs agreement with NHK Television to digitalise cultural heritage for future generations
Tuesday, 11 November 2003
Letter from the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee concerning Yellowstone
Monday, 16 June 2003
Web Site of the 27th Session of the World Heritage Committee
Wednesday, 26 March 2003

Hatra
Monday, 17 February 2003
Fire Destroys Yuzhengong Palace in Hubei Province of China
Wednesday, 5 February 2003
Letter From the Chairperson Concerning the "Historic Centre of Sighisoara" (Romania)
Wednesday, 5 February 2003
Belgium Signs Joint Cooperation Agreement with UNESCO for World Heritage Conservation
Tuesday, 26 November 2002
30th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention
Saturday, 16 November 2002
1972-2002: 30th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention
Thursday, 12 September 2002
Message on the Occasion of the Floods Affecting a Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Tuesday, 20 August 2002
World Heritage Committee Concludes 26th Session in Budapest, Hungary
Monday, 15 July 2002
Tipasa (Algeria) Added to List of World Heritage in Danger
Monday, 15 July 2002
World Heritage Sites, June 2002 inscriptions
Monday, 1 July 2002
World Heritage Committee Inscribes 9 New Sites on the World Heritage List
Wednesday, 26 June 2002
Budapest, Hungary - 24 June 2002. The World Heritage Committee opened its 26th annual session in Budapest, Hungary, on Monday, 24 June. The opening session was attended by 320 participants representing all 21 Committee members, over 50 observers from States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, representatives from the Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee (ICOMOS, IUCN, and ...
Three States Join the World Heritage Convention
Wednesday, 5 June 2002
New World Heritage Web Address
Tuesday, 9 April 2002
Report of the 25th Session of the World Heritage Committee
Wednesday, 9 January 2002
World Heritage Committee Inscribes 31 New Sites on the World Heritage List
Thursday, 13 December 2001
World Heritage Committee Inscribes Two Sites on the the List of World Heritage in Danger
Wednesday, 12 December 2001
25th Session of the World Heritage Committee opens in Helsinki, Finland
Tuesday, 11 December 2001
Paris. The General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention opened Tuesday, 30 October 2001 at 10 a.m. in the presence of the majority of the States Parties to the Convention. After the opening of the session by Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO ADG Culture and representative of the Director General, Samuel Fernandéz Illanes, Ambassador of Chile to UNESCO, was elected ...
Paris - The 13th session of the General Assembly of the State Parties of the World Heritage Convention ended on the 31st October with the election of eight new members of the World Heritage Committee. The following States Parties were elected: Argentina India LebanonNigeriaOman Russian Federation Saint Lucia United Kingdom 1 November 2001: Fifth Extraordinary session of the World Heritage ...
Thirteenth General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention
Friday, 26 October 2001
The twenty-fifth session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee will open on Monday, 25 June for its annual six-day meeting at UNESCO Headquarters. The seven Bureau members, Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Finland, Morocco, Thailand, and Zimbabwe will be joined by observer delegations from many other States Parties to the Convention, as well as representatives from the Advisory Bodies ...
World Heritage Committee to hold 26th Annual Session in Budapest, Hungary, 24 - 29 june 2002
Thursday, 21 June 2001
World Heritage Committee Inscribes 61 New Sites on World Heritage List
Thursday, 30 November 2000
World Heritage Committee Adds Three Sites to the List of World Heritage in Danger
Wednesday, 29 November 2000
World Heritage Committee opens 24th Session in Cairns, Australia, Elects New 7 Members Bureau
Monday, 27 November 2000
World Heritage Committee to Hold 24th Annual Session in Cairns, Australia, November 27 - December 2
Wednesday, 15 November 2000

Chairman of World Heritage Committee Named as Candidate for post of Director-General of UNESCO
Friday, 20 October 2000
The President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, announced on 2 March 2000 that the development of the proposed saltworks at San Ignacio would not proceed.
The decision was made following the international UNESCO expert mission to the site in August 1999. The results of the mission were presented to, and adopted by, the World Heritage Committee at its twenty-third session held in Marrakesh ...
The Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino in Mexico Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1993
Wednesday, 8 December 1999
World Heritage Committee Inscribes 48 New Sites on Heritage List
Thursday, 2 December 1999
World Heritage Committee Adds Four Sites to the List of World Heritage in Danger
Tuesday, 30 November 1999
United Nations Foundation (UNF) Broadens Support for World Natural Heritage
Monday, 29 November 1999
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in an Extraordinary meeting today welcomed efforts by the Australian government to help resolve the controversy surrounding uranium mining and milling in an enclave within the Kakadu National Park which, some claim, endangers this unique archaeological and ethnological site.
The Committee decided not to inscribe the site, which has been on the World Heritage ...
Second letter from the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee to the Environmental Groups concerning the Whale Sanctuary of El Viscaino
The letter follows the receipt of about 30,000 petitions received and numerous individual letters and e-mails sent to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Letter sent by the Chairman of the World Heritage Committee to the Environmental Groups concerning the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino (Mexico)
UNESCO World Heritage Committee Adds 30 Sites to World Heritage List
Wednesday, 2 December 1998
Kyoto, (Japan) - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee today announced it removed the Old City of Dubrovnik (Croatia) and the Wieliczka Salt Mines (Poland) from its List of World Heritage in Danger due to the success of measures undertaken for their restoration and preservation. Dubrovnik, the Dalmatian Coast city dubbed "the pearl of the Adriatic" and dotted with beautiful Gothic, ...
World Heritage Committee to Announce New Sites on December 5 in Kyoto, Japan
Wednesday, 25 November 1998
Disaster for Doñana - a Spanish World Heritage Site
Monday, 27 April 1998
World Heritage Committee Inscribes 46 New Sites on World Heritage List
Sunday, 7 December 1997
Kakadu, Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Sites, Australia
Monday, 22 September 1997
The organizers of a symposium on world cultural heritage, held in Hildesheim, Germany 23 February - 1 March 1997 have announced the publication of the proceedings of this symposium, entitled: "World Cultural Heritage: A Global Challenge." The work contains all the presentations and the resolution adopted at this week-long conference.Seven representative projects from all five continents ...
Fire At Machu Picchu, Peru, 6-11 September
Friday, 12 September 1997
New E-Mail Mailing List For International Conservation: Icons_L
Wednesday, 10 September 1997
UNESCO Launches Appeal To Safeguard Island Of Mozambique
Wednesday, 3 September 1997
The Ninth Forum of Ministers of Cultural Heritage of Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Cartagena, Colombia from 27 to 30 June 1997 has formally endorsed the conclusions and recommendations of an expert meeting calling for the nomination of a multi-national "Fortifications in the Caribbean." The Ministers decided to support the initiative of Colombia to work towards the ...
Unesco Director-General Expresses Sadness Over Death Of Raymond Lemaire
Thursday, 14 August 1997
Best Practices In Heritage Development And Cultural Tourism
Thursday, 24 July 1997
New Web Addresses for Advisory Bodies and World Heritage Natural Site Data Sheets
Saturday, 19 July 1997
The Antiquities Development Project of the American Research Center in Egypt is committed to undertaking three dimensional architectural surveys at the two Monasteries of St. Paul and St Anthony and the Ottoman Fort at Quseir, by the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This is part of the conservation and restoration projects currently carried out by the Antiquities Development Project at these ...