News

Today is World Radio Day, proclaimed in 2011 by Member States of UNESCO, and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 as an International Day to highlight the importance of radio. Radio is a powerful medium for celebrating humanity in all its diversity. At the global level, radio remains the most widely consumed medium. This unique ability to reach out to the widest audience ...

Director-General Audrey Azoulay today carried out a historic visit to Somalia, the first by a Director-General of UNESCO to reestablish the long tradition of cooperation between UNESCO and the country after years of conflict. The Director-General held talks with Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, Minister of Education, Culture and Higher Education, Abdullahi Godah Barre, and Minister of Women ...

UNESCO expresses its sadness and dismay at the disappearance of Mr Raúl Hernández, guide of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) and committed nature conservation activist, whose body, bearing signs of violence, was found on 3 February in the state of Michoacán.  UNESCO is calling for light to be shed on the extremely disturbing circumstances that marked his death, a few days ...

World Wetlands Day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Today’s World Wetlands Day under the theme, ‘Wetlands and Biodiversity,’ is an opportunity to highlight the importance of wetland biodiversity conservation. The significance of wetland biodiversity was stressed recently by the ...

The Director of the World Heritage Centre, Ms Mechtild Rössler, and Mr Miguel Clüsener-Godt, Director of the Man and the Biosphere Programme, express their deep sadness and profound concern following the death, ascertained on 29 January 2020, of Mr Homero Gómez González, manager of a component of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico), property inscribed on the World Heritage List ...

UNESCO’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust will take place on 22 January and focus on the Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, whose liberation took place 75 years ago (27 January 1945). This year, the Organization will mark the anniversary at its Headquarters in Paris with a conference, a ceremony, and two exhibitions ...

It is with the deepest sorrow that we learned of the passing of Dr Roland Silva, former President of ICOMOS International (1990-1999) and its Emiritus President thereafter.  He died in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 1 January 2020 at the age of 86 after a brief illness. On this very sad occasion, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to join Dr Silva’s friends from all corners of the world in ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, on Monday received Ahmad Jalali, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and discussed tensions in the Middle East with particular regard to heritage and culture. The Director-General recalled the provisions of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1972 Convention Concerning the ...

The World Heritage Centre has launched an Online Consultation with key World Heritage stakeholders on the updating of the “Policy Document on the Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage properties”. The consultation, which is taking place until 20 January 2020, will gather feedback and comments from key World Heritage stakeholders of the World Heritage Convention on this crucial ...

The World Heritage Centre has been following with attention and concern the situation in the Galapagos Islands, and in particular in the Island of San Cristobal, where a cargo vessel overturned on 22 December 2019, due to the fall of a container crane, causing a 600-gallon oil spill. According to official sources, the situation has been quickly mastered to avoid possible impacts on the ...

Dear friends of World Heritage,  I would like to thank you once again for all of your support over the past year, to help protect our most precious heritage: All of you count! Whether you work in heritage conservation, work at a site, travel as a tourist, or even just visit the heritage places near your home, your awareness and efforts make a difference. It is also important to us to receive ...

On the occasion of the Forum of Ministers of Culture on 19 November 2019 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, the Culture Sector proudly introduces the Culture|2030 Indicators. The Culture|2030 indicators is a framework of thematic indicators whose purpose is to measure and monitor the progress of culture’s enabling contribution to the national and local implementation of the Goals and ...

In response to the results of the independent technical review of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) commissioned by IUCN, the World Heritage Centre expresses grave concern over the state of conservation of Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve World Heritage site and the impacts of the Rufiji Hydropower on the property. The review concludes that the strategic environmental assessment of ...

From 25 to 29 November 2019, experts from World Heritage marine sites met in Indonesia to support the Komodo National Park with the management of its marine component. See the pictures Komodo National Park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991 for its outstanding ecosystems and biodiversity. While perhaps best known for the Komodo Dragon, Komodo National Park’s Outstanding ...

The seminar "Climate Change, World Heritage and Tourism" was presented at UNESCO Headquarters on 16 December 2019 by Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in collaboration with UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS France and the Association des biens français du patrimoine mondial. On a global scale, tourism is a factor contributing to climate change, especially when emissions are measured at ...

International Mountain Day, designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 2003 and celebrated on 11 December, highlights the importance of mountains to life on Earth. ‘Mountains matter for Youth’ is the theme of this year’s International Mountain Day. The 2019 International Mountain Day’s theme is a great opportunity for young generations, to enhance World Heritage conservation ...

"Heritage, World Heritage and the Future: Perspectives on Scale, Conservation and Dialogue” The 14th International Anamed Symposium in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre held on 5-6 December at ANAMED, Koc University in Istanbul produced important outcomes for archaeological World Heritage sites. The challenges affecting the conservation mechanism as well as the ...

The Arab World Heritage Young Professionals Forum “empowering youth to build peace through the protection and preservation of heritage” starts today! The Forum was opened by H. E. Mr Mohamed Zinelabidine, Minister of Cultural Affairs of Tunisia, Dr Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO; Dr Mechtild Rössler, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre; H. E. Ms Élaine Ayotte, ...

The 22nd General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention is meeting on 27 and 28 November 2019 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, convening the 193 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, under the chairmanship of H.E. Mr Adam Al Mulla, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the State of Kuwait to UNESCO. During the session, the General Assembly elected ...

In view of the current global pandemic and following the extraordinary measures being taken to tackle the spread of COVID-19 globally, the 2020 Campaign of the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Initiative has been postponed to 2021. Read More “Fostering Youth Commitment towards World Heritage” The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the Call for Projects for the World ...