Periodic Reporting

Every six years, the States Parties are invited to submit to the World Heritage Committee a periodic report on the application of the World Heritage Convention, including the state of conservation of the World Heritage properties located on its territories.

Why Periodic Reporting?

The Periodic Reporting on the application of the World Heritage Convention is intended to serve four main purposes :

• to provide an assessment of the application of the World Heritage Convention by the State Party;
• to provide an assessment as to whether the World Heritage values of the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List are being maintained over time;
• to provide up-dated information about the World Heritage properties to record the changing circumstances and state of conservation of the properties;
• to provide a mechanism for regional co-operation and exchange of information and experiences between States Parties concerning the implementation of the Convention and World Heritage conservation.

How it works?

The World Heritage Committee has a regional approach to Periodic Reporting as a means to promote regional collaboration and to be able to respond to the specific characteristics of each region.

For each of them, regional periodic reporting strategies are developed to ensure full participation of States Parties, competent institutions and regional expertise. The final result of each regional strategy is a Regional State of the World Heritage Report.

The Committee examines these regional reports according to a pre-established schedule, which is based on a six-year cycle.

Six-year Periodic Reporting Cycle II (2008-2015)

Six-year Periodic Reporting Cycle I (2000-2006)

Who is responsible for what?

While the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention and the World Heritage Committee have a standard-setting role, the management and monitoring of World Heritage properties remain the responsibility of the States Parties. The States Parties themselves are also responsible for the preparation of the Periodic Reports.

The World Heritage Committee and its Secretariat (the UNESCO World Heritage Centre) support the States Parties in these tasks and facilitate the implementation of the regional Periodic Reporting strategies. States Parties may request expert advice from the Secretariat and/or the Advisory Bodies (ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN). The Secretariat may also commission expert advice with the agreement of the States Parties.

The World Heritage Committee examines and responds to the States Parties' periodic reports. It then includes its findings in its report to the General Conference of UNESCO.

Periodic Reporting Process

What are the expected outcomes?

The information provided during the Periodic Reporting exercise will contribute to:

• assessing the state of conservation of World Heritage properties;
• determining whether the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of all World Heritage properties has been maintained over time;
• helping to solve outstanding problems and issues through an informed decision-making process;
• sharing experiences, good practices, knowledge and lessons learnt between States Parties, Site Managers and other World Heritage practitioners;
• encouraging cooperation and establishment of networks between partners;
• providing a decision-making tool for States Parties, national institutions, the World Heritage Committee and the World Heritage Centre;
• raising awareness about the World Heritage Convention: in particular the importance of OUV and the concepts of authenticity/integrity.

From the information collected through the Periodic Reporting exercise, a final report will be prepared in consultation with National Focal Points, for presentation to the World Heritage Committee. The final report will form the baseline for the development of targeted Action Plans at national and regional levels which will respond to the needs, challenges, threats, strengths and opportunities identified and presented as a result of the Periodic Reporting exercise.