2420 news
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
On 26 September 2023, global marine protected area (MPA) practitioners met online with global experts, who shared firsthand insights about how blue carbon credits work, what incites businesses to invest, what a high-quality blue carbon project looks like, and how to assess viability as a sustainable financing stream in support of marine conservation.
Marine World Heritage sites, and MPAs ...
Monday, 25 September 2023
The 45th session of the World Heritage Committee concluded on Monday 25 September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This year, the Committee inscribed 42 new sites and approved the extension of 5 sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
At the end of its fortnight's work, the Committee inscribed 42 new sites, of which 33 are cultural sites and 9 are natural sites. These sites will now benefit from the ...
Friday, 15 September 2023
The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Riyadh until 25 September, decided today to inscribe the sites of "The Saint Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings and Lavra of Kyiv-Pechersk" and "L’viv – the ensemble of the historic centre" on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to the threat of destruction the Russian offensive poses.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee considers ...
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Today the World Heritage Committee, which is meeting in Riyadh until 25 September, decided to remove the site of the Tombs of the Buganda Kings in Kasubi (Uganda) from the List of World Heritage in Danger, following the successful restoration work carried out by Uganda with UNESCO’s support.
In 2010, a violent fire devastated the Tombs of the Kings of Buganda at Kasubi which are inscribed on ...
Monday, 11 September 2023
The extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee begins in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we express our gratitude to our hosts for convening the first in-person Committee since the onset of COVID-19. Surrounded by old friends and young professionals alike, we are reminded that this meeting is more than the sum of important decisions taken. It is a powerful platform where we rekindle ...
Monday, 11 September 2023
The extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee opens this Monday in Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Fifty sites will be examined for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Press conference
On Monday 11 September at 1.30pm (local time UTC+3), UNESCO and the Saudi authorities will hold a press conference to present the work ahead of the Committee. Registration is compulsory ...
Friday, 8 September 2023
The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the World Heritage Centre and Geo4Map with the generous support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, can now be ordered from the World Heritage Centre website.
The featured image on the map presents the Ḥimā Cultural Area World Heritage property in Saudi Arabia, country hosting the next session of the World Heritage Committee in September ...
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
UNESCO has learned with great sadness and expresses its deep regret at the loss of Jim Thorsell, who passed away in his native country Canada.
Thorsell started his career as a park ranger in Banff National Park, then worked as a researcher, trainer and project manager, first in Canada and then in international conservation projects, including as a lecturer at the African Ranger Training ...
Thursday, 31 August 2023
A UNESCO and IUCN assessment of the status of species reveals that UNESCO World Heritage sites harbour over 20% of mapped global species richness within just 1% of the Earth’s surface. Safeguarding these biodiversity hotspots is essential if the Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is to be achieved. UNESCO is appealing to the 195 States Parties to the Convention to scale up ...
Wednesday, 16 August 2023
In line with UNESCO's Global Priorities for Africa and Gender Equality, UNESCO developed a Mentorship Programme to train young African experts on World Heritage. In close partnership with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and the Advisory Bodies (ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN), 50 women experts will be trained to further support African Members States to implement the World Heritage Convention ...
Friday, 11 August 2023
From 26 to 30 July 2023, UNESCO organized an intensive training course for more than 20 cultural heritage professionals from eight regions of Ukraine, including the cities of Odesa, Kyiv and L’viv, threatened by increasingly frequent attacks.
With the support of Japan, the in-person training aimed to strengthen the knowledge and expertise of Ukrainian heritage professionals in disaster risk ...
Friday, 4 August 2023
On 24 July 2023, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in partnership with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and ICCROM, held an online workshop dedicated to “Re-discovering African urban heritage through the lenses of the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape” (HUL). Thanks to the generous support of the Government of Norway, the workshops recorded the participation of over 100 ...
Monday, 31 July 2023
Last July, students joined an environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling campaign in the ocean areas bordering the pebble beaches of the Península Valdés World Heritage site, as part of the global eDNA expeditions that UNESCO is currently piloting across 25 marine World Heritage sites to better understand ocean biodiversity and the effects of climate change.
Water samples were collected from 5 ...
Friday, 28 July 2023
On 22 June 2023, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre organized a Learning & exchange workshop on ‘Post COVID-19 World Heritage Site Management: Integration of Conservation, Tourism and Local Livelihood Strategies at World Heritage Sites,’ a project funded by the government of Japan through the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust.
(c) Dr Ang Ming Chee. Extract from the PowerPoint Presentation ...
Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Living Heritage: Revitalising Stone Town of Zanzibar Socioeconomic Development
On 25 July 2023, UNESCO organized a launch event for the project, Living Heritage: Revitalising Stone Town of Zanzibar Socioeconomic Development. Honorable Simai Mohammed Said, Minister of Tourism and Heritage in the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar graced the event. The launch was participated by government ...
Odesa: UNESCO strongly condemns repeated attacks against cultural heritage, including World Heritage
Sunday, 23 July 2023
UNESCO is deeply dismayed and condemns in the strongest terms the brazen attack carried out by the Russian forces, which hit several cultural sites in the city center of Odesa, home to the World Heritage property ‘The Historic Centre of Odesa’.
The attack took the lives of at least two people, according to preliminary reports, and damaged a number of significant cultural sites, including the ...
Monday, 17 July 2023
The 4th Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO-designated sites and Sustainable Development held on 29-30 June in Huangshan, China by the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO, adopted the Huangshan Vision calling for tech-enhanced heritage protection cooperation.
The Huangshan Vision emphasizes the potential role of space, ...
Monday, 17 July 2023
In 2023 many natural World Heritage sites in Africa have faced serious challenges related to civil unrest and conflicts threatening biodiversity. The Rapid Response Facility (RRF), a UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Fauna and Flora International joint initiative, has quickly mobilized resources to partners on the ground to tackle these emergency situations.
© Wild Africa ...
Thursday, 13 July 2023
Among the damage found, much of it as a result of the fires that occurred in October 2022, there are serious alterations in 22 moai, caused by various factors, which must be addressed in the short term.
After this first phase of diagnosis following the fires, a participatory risk management plan will be developed. Simultaneously, training will be conducted on topics such as mitigation, ...
Thursday, 13 July 2023
The final online session of the World Heritage Site Managers' Forum centered around the crucial role of people in managing and preserving UNESCO World Heritage sites. With a focus on "Managing World Heritage - the People," the session brought together site managers, heritage professionals, and experts from around the world to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and future directions of ...