2392 news
Monday, 4 June 2007
The World Heritage Centre expresses its deep concern after a torrential landslide of snow, mud, stones, trees and vegetation at the Geyser Valley in the Volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage site. Located in the eastern part of the Russian Federation, this is one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world, with a high density of active volcanoes, a variety of types, and a wide ...
1 min read
Friday, 1 June 2007
The European Commission (DG EAC) and Europa Nostra, the pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, has announced the laureates of the annual European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards.The Awards will be presented to the representatives of the awarded achievements at the annual European Heritage Awards Ceremony, which will take place on 8 June 2007 in the Stockholm ...
2 min read
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 ...
3 min read
Thursday, 31 May 2007
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre, in collaboration with the Centro Camuno per i Studi Preistorici (CCSP) and the Ministero per i Beni et le Attività Culturali, organised a workshop from 23-23 May 2007, financed by the Spanish Funds-in-Trust entitled ‘Managing Rock Art World Heritage Sites' with the participation of invited Rock Art experts from around the world to present new developments ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
The World Heritage Centre expresses its deep concern after the fire on the Cutty Sark tea clipper, part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site located in the United Kingdom.
On 21 May 2007, the British authorities informed the World Heritage Centre that a fire had swept through the Cutty Sark. The fire started around 4.45 am on Monday and the damage has been substantial. However, due ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 22 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 ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
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 ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
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 ...
1 min read
Friday, 11 May 2007
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 ...
1 min read
Thursday, 3 May 2007
In November 2006, the World Heritage Centre signed a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, to establish the first World Heritage Digital Center (WHDC) under the leadership of Dr. Ching-chih Chen, information technology Professor at Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. "The World Heritage Centre considers this ...
2 min read
Thursday, 26 April 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 ...
2 min read
Friday, 20 April 2007
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 ...
2 min read
Thursday, 19 April 2007
UNESCO will send a mission to the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, Peru, in view of concerns by the World Heritage Committee for the conservation of this outstanding Andean archaeological centre and its natural environment, inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site on the World Heritage List in 1983.From 23 to 30 April, the UNESCO mission, which will include the participation of ...
1 min read
Monday, 16 April 2007
A UNESCO mission has confirmed serious threats to the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve and welcomed ambitious measures announced by the Ecuadorian authorities to preserve the site on UNESCO's World Heritage List.The mission confirmed the threat to the outstanding value and physical integrity of this iconic World Heritage site mainly from: the growing encroachment of invasive ...
2 min read
Thursday, 12 April 2007
A UNESCO World Heritage Centre/World Conservation Union (IUCN) mission is currently in Ecuador (April 8-12, 2007) at the request of the World Heritage Committee and at the invitation of the government of Ecuador, to assess the state of conservation of the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve. The mission will include high-level meetings with senior government officials from the ...
3 min read
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
In its recently released first annual report, the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) Secretariat announced that it has taken an average of less than 6 days (below its 8-day target) to process requests for emergency grants, to solicit and receive reviews from at least two independent referees on the pertinence of the request, to decide on whether an application should be approved and to inform the ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Now available online. To download the pdf version, please click here.
This 200-page publication provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of more than three decades of the implementation of the World Heritage Convention and highlights a number of its successes and challenges. It includes a history of the 1972 Convention and its implementation, an analysis of the natural and cultural ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
The threats posed by climate change to natural and cultural sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List are outlined in a new UNESCO publication, "Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage"*. The report features 26 examples - including the Tower of London, Kilimanjaro National Park and the Great Barrier Reef - case studies that are representative of the dangers faced by the 830 sites ...
4 min read
Wednesday, 28 March 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 ...
1 min read
Monday, 19 March 2007
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 ...
2 min read
Thursday, 15 March 2007
"The technical mission that I had sent from 27 February to 2 March 2007 to the Old City of Jerusalem, which is inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and on the World Heritage in Danger List, completed its technical assessment on the works conducted on the Mughrabi pathway leading to the Haram el-Sharif. The mission has submitted to me their Report (attached below) accompanied by ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 13 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 ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
The technical mission sent by the Director-General of UNESCO to the Old City of Jerusalem, which is inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, completed its technical assessment on the works conducted on the pathway to the Haram el-Sharif.This mission, conducted by Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre, took place from 27 February to 2 March 2007. It was composed of ...
1 min read
Monday, 5 March 2007
[in French only] Actualités sur l'avancement des projets CFU :Le comité mixte de coordination (CMC) de la Convention France-UNESCO a eu lieu le 8 mars 2007 à l’UNESCO.Fleuve Niger et patrimoine : projet européen« Villages oubliés » du nord de la Syrie : suivi du projet de nomination sur la Liste du patrimoine mondialBéjaïa, Algérie : assistance à la création d’un plan de sauvegarde et de ...
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Equipped with shovels, wheelbarrows and water buckets, twelve girls and thirteen boys between the ages of 14 and 17, from eight different countries in West Africa, set about attempting to put their newly learned conservation skills to work at the Royal Palaces of Abomey World Heritage site (Benin) from 19 to 23 February 2007. The young people, participants in the First World Heritage ...
1 min read
Friday, 23 February 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 ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Archaeologists at the University of Sheffield have unearthed a huge settlement at Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge, confirming that the Stonehenge monument was part of a larger ritual centre. The excavations reveal an enormous ancient settlement that once housed hundreds of people. Archaeologists believe the houses were constructed and occupied by the builders of nearby Stonehenge, the ...
1 min read
Monday, 12 February 2007
The project on the Development of Cultural and Ecotourism in the Mountainous Regions of Central and South Asia has just produced a publication entitled "Poverty Alleviation and Community-Based Tourism: Experiences from Central and South Asia". This publication reports on pilot activities carried out in eight Central and South Asian countries between 2002 and 2005 in order to develop ...
1 min read
Friday, 9 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. He also ...
1 min read
Thursday, 8 February 2007
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 ...
2 min read
Thursday, 1 February 2007
The conference on "Management and Preservation of Historic Cities inscribed on the World Heritage List" is taking place in St Petersburg from 29 January to 3 February 2007. It is a follow-up to the February 2006 international UNESCO/ICOMOS mission to St Petersburg reviewing a number of conservation and planning issues in this city, including the extension to the Marinsky Theatre. ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 24 January 2007
The World Heritage Centre expresses its deep concern regarding the cargo spill off the British Coast. The MSC Napoli is grounded near Sidmouth's coastline, part of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage site, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2001. The chemical containers and oil released from the ship may represent a potential environmental disaster. If the information ...
1 min read
Friday, 19 January 2007
The situation continues to get worse at Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo), where 2 male silverbacks have been killed.The gruesome tally continues: since late December the mountain gorilla, a flagship species that contributes to the recognition of the outstanding universal value of the Park, has suffered serious losses by armed groups. On January 6 and 11, two male ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
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 ...
1 min read
Friday, 15 December 2006
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 ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
"In the face of the attempts to re-write history that are currently at work, I can but recall in the most emphatic manner that it is our moral duty to analyse the past and to pass it on without falsification, alteration or omission. Any attempt to call into question or to deny the reality of the Holocaust or of any other crime against humanity is to be deeply regretted. UNESCO has a ...
1 min read
Saturday, 9 December 2006
This conference was held in Rome from December 5-9. The conclusions outlined below were reached thanks to contributions from ICCROM, UNESCO-WHC, UN-WTO, HERITY INTERNATIONALFrom the point of view of culture, no poor Countries exist around the World: every territory has a significant and priceless Heritage Wealth. This Heritage constitutes the collective memory of Humanity. As a non renewable ...
1 min read
Friday, 1 December 2006
The 2006-2007 World Heritage map, the second to be produced in collaboration with National Geographic and Hewlett Packard, is now available. The goal of the partnership, signed at the end of 2005 for an initial period of three years, is to raise awareness of the World Heritage Convention, and the map is an essential tool for this purpose. The partnership combines National Geographic's ...
1 min read
Friday, 24 November 2006
On 21 November 2006, the Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Francesco Bandarin, signed a new cooperation agreement with Minister Marc Verwilghen, Belgian Minister for Science Policy. Under the agreement the Belgian Science Policy Office will, during a 5-year period, mobilize Belgian scientific expertise in using space technologies to assist State parties to the World Heritage ...
1 min read
Thursday, 23 November 2006
Conservation activities continue in the World Heritage sites of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with particular attention given to Virunga National Park, where hippopotamuses are being massacred by the Mai Mai rebel group. In response to this massacre, UNESCO and its field partners have taken the following measures to stop the poaching which threatens to eradicate the hippo ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
In an ongoing commitment to sustainable tourism, Jet tours will support two safeguarding projects scheduled for implementation early 2007. The projects are part of a joint endeavour through the World Heritage Centre-Jet Tours partnership to promote preservation and awareness through responsible tourism. On 9 November 2006, the Centre's director, Francesco Bandarin, and the ...
1 min read
Thursday, 9 November 2006
Threats to cultural and natural heritage sites from the effects of climate change are further substantiated in a new report presented at the 12th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Nairobi, Kenya. The report, entitled 'The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge' describes impacts such as rising sea ...
1 min read
Monday, 6 November 2006
On the occasion of the United Nations' International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, the World Heritage Centre would like to draw attention to the project "Biodiversity Conservation in Regions of Armed Conflict: Protecting World Heritage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo". Initiated in 2000, the project continues with the ...
Tuesday, 31 October 2006
The UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2007 has just been published. Featuring a useful week-at-a-glance design, it is illustrated with 77 colour photos of World Heritage sites, each accompanied with a short caption. It also introduces the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage; its objectives, the selection criteria, the institutions which ensure its ...
Saturday, 7 October 2006
At the 57th International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Congress held in Valencia, Spain from 2-6 October 2006, UNESCO and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Open Initiative on Space Technologies to Monitor Natural and Cultural Heritage of UNESCO Sites held a plenary event for the general public with the theme 'Space Technologies for the Benefit of Society'. It covered the use of space ...
1 min read
Friday, 29 September 2006
The handbook "Cultural heritage and local development: A Guide for African local governments" was created in response to the request formulated during the special session 'African Towns and Heritage', organised by the World Heritage Centre and the France-UNESCO Co-operation agreement at the Summit Africities 3 (Yaounde, Cameroon, December 2003). This guide was designed as a ...
1 min read
Monday, 25 September 2006
WWF Nepal has confirmed there are no survivors from Saturday's helicopter crash which occurred while transporting 24 delegates to attend the handover of Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in Taplejung, Nepal. The flight left Ghunsa Saturday afternoon at 12pm but did not arrive as per schedule (a 20-minute flight) back to Taplejung. Rescue teams searched for two days before finding the ...
1 min read
Thursday, 21 September 2006
On 25 July 2006, the Government of Sao Tome and Principe officially deposited with the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, its instrument of ratification, becoming the 183rd State Party to adopt the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.The World Heritage Convention will enter into force for this State Party on 25 October 2006.
Wednesday, 20 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 ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Experts* sent to Lebanon by UNESCO to assess the state of the country's cultural heritage sites have called for urgent measures to clean up the oil spill from the World Heritage edifices along the Byblos shore line. However, they found that major components of Lebanon's cultural heritage had been spared by the recent conflict. The experts' findings were presented at a press conference at ...
4 min read
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Born after 31 December 1977 you will be under 30 years of age in 2007. You are a native of a Mediterranean country. You wish to develop a project furthering the knowledge and understanding of Mediterranean cultures. Every year the Marc de Montalembert Foundation offers a grant of 7000 euro to enable the implementation of such projects.The grant is meant to incite research and appreciation of ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 13 September 2006
On the occasion of Journées Européennes du Patrimoine (European Heritage Days), and as part of the UNESCO-Vocations Patrimoine Fellowships programme for World Heritage managers established in January 2006, which provides fellowships to current and future managers of World Heritage sites, the Vocations Patrimoine, l'Héritage du Futur association is organizing an exhibition of images of ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 12 September 2006
With the support of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, TourismAfrica 2006 (10-15 September, Geneva, Switzerland) is actively raising awareness of African World Heritage. This four-day event gathers professional African and international decision-makers to advance the development of Africa's Tourism Industry, especially in the domain of sustainable tourism. The tourism industry has ...
1 min read
Friday, 8 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 ...
2 min read
Friday, 25 August 2006
The Decisions adopted at the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 8 to 16 July 2006, are now available online, in English and French.Decisions adopted at the 30 th session of the World Heritage Committee
Friday, 11 August 2006
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today launched an alert to protect heritage in the Middle East. The full text of the declaration follows: "The heritage site of Tyre is under threat."UNESCO has already launched two urgent appeals to the belligerents to ensure that the hostilities spare the site and its surroundings, which are part of the ancestral heritage of ...
1 min read
Thursday, 3 August 2006
The 2006 International Youth Volunteer Camp on the Restoration of Khami Ruins National Monument took place from 15 June to 8 July. The goal of the camp is to take remedial action and save crumbling World Heritage sites in their respective countries, and this year's camp was the seventh held since they began in 2000. UNESCO Harare Cluster Office Director and Representative Professor Juma ...
1 min read
Wednesday, 2 August 2006
A new partnership to promote UNESCO World Heritage sites has been launched with the signing on 19 July of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO and the New Zealand-based company GSP Our Place-World Heritage (GSP OP-WH Ltd). Under the partnership, GSP OP-WH Ltd and its international network of professional photographers will produce a series of books, television programmes and a website ...
1 min read
Friday, 21 July 2006
The World Heritage Committee at its 30th session in Vilnius decided to place the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley on the List of World Heritage in Danger following plans by the municipality of Dresden to build a bridge over the Elbe River in the core zone of the property. The Committee determined that plans to build a bridge across the Elbe would have such a serious impact on the ...
1 min read
Friday, 21 July 2006
During the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Vilnius, Lithuania from 8-16 July, 18 new sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List. They include two natural sites and the extension of one natural site, which also became a transboundary property. Sixteen cultural sites were inscribed, one of them transboundary and three existing sites were extended. Improvements in the ...
1 min read
Thursday, 20 July 2006
Five sites newly inscribed into UNESCO's World Heritage List are highlighted in the July-August issue of the UNESCO Courier.Bisotun (Islamic Republic of Iran) Professor David Stronach, archeologist and former Director of the British Institute of Persian Studies in Tehran (1961-1980), looks back fondly on his experiences at Bisotun (Islamic Republic of Iran), a monument in bas-relief and ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 18 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 ...
2 min read
Sunday, 16 July 2006
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 ...
1 min read
Thursday, 13 July 2006
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 ...
10 min read
Thursday, 13 July 2006
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 ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 12 July 2006
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 ...
8 min read
Tuesday, 11 July 2006
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 ...
1 min read
Monday, 10 July 2006
The World Heritage Committee on Monday adopted the recommendations on ways to respond to the threat of climate change to many World Heritage sites such as Mount Everest (Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal), Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Venice (Italy)."This is the start of a long process, which is important in that it helps draw attention to a far reaching issue," explained ...
3 min read
Monday, 10 July 2006
The 30th session of the World Heritage Committee, chaired by Ina Marčiulionytė, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Lithuania to UNESCO, started its work Sunday with an address by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, who highlighted the need for synergy between UNESCO's conventions on tangible heritage, intangible heritage, and diversity of cultural expressions. The ...
3 min read
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 ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 4 July 2006
Thirty-seven new sites will be proposed for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee scheduled for July 8-16 in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus; the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura; and Ina Marčiulionytė, Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee and Permanent Delegate of ...
3 min read
Thursday, 8 June 2006
On April 13, 2006, Mr. Breton, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry met with Mr. Doumba, Minister of Forest Economy, Water, Fisheries and National Parks, Mme Raonimarahy, UNESCO's representative in Gabon, and Mr. Séverino, Director General of the French Development Agency, at the presidential palace of Libreville to confirm France's commitment to the protection of ...
1 min read
Monday, 22 May 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 ...
2 min read
Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Világörökség ifjú kezekben, the Hungarian version of the World Heritage in Young Hands educational resource kit for teachers, has just been published in the framework of the UNESCO Young People's World Heritage Education Project, coordinated by the World Heritage Centre and UNESCO Associated Schools. The Kit introduces the concept of World Heritage education and conservation. It was ...
1 min read
Thursday, 11 May 2006
On 28 January 2006, the Government of Guinea-Bissau officially deposited with the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, its instrument of ratification, becoming the 182nd State Party to adopt the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.The World Heritage Convention entered into force for this State Party on 28 April 2006.
Wednesday, 3 May 2006
A fund to help the States of sub-Saharan Africa improve the preservation of their cultural and natural heritage will be launched in South Africa on 5 May. The African World Heritage Fund will also be used to help boost the number of African sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Sub-Saharan Africa is severely under-represented on the List. Despite great cultural and natural diversity, ...
2 min read
Friday, 28 April 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 ...
1 min read
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
The proceedings of the International Donors' Conference "Promoting and Preserving Congolese Heritage: Linking Biological and Cultural Diversity", held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France from 13-17 September 2004, are now available as World Heritage Paper Series N° 17. The publication has been made possible thanks to the financial support of the Japanese Government. The ...
1 min read
Friday, 14 April 2006
On 30 November 2005, the Government of Swaziland officially deposited with the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, its instrument of ratification, becoming the 181st State Party to adopt the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.The World Heritage Convention entered into force for this State Party on 28 February 2006.
Wednesday, 12 April 2006
The selection panel for the 2010 European Capital of Culture have recommended that the German town Essen and the Hungarian city of Pécs should share this title together with a third one, Turkey's Istanbul.Asked to explain the purpose and added value of the concept of European Capital of Culture in general, Sir Jeremy Isaacs explained that the role of the European capital of culture is ...
1 min read
Monday, 10 April 2006
Since January 2006, the Malian authorities have been developing a management and conservation plan for Timbuktu, a World Heritage site since 1988. In March 2006, a management committee made up of the imams of the three mosques, representatives of all local areas, tour guides, and municipal and administrative authorities was officially created by municipal decree.
The development of a ...
1 min read
Sunday, 9 April 2006
The World Heritage Centre highlights the importance of World Heritage sites for mirgratory birds on the occasion of the first World Migratory Bird Day launched by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and other partner organizations. UNESCO has a Memorandum of Understanding with CMS, and the World Heritage Centre is also working with CMS in the framework of the coordination of ...
3 min read
Wednesday, 5 April 2006
Representatives from 15 States Parties of the Caribbean region participated in a regional training workshop on marine World Heritage held in Soufriere, St Lucia, in the vicinity of the Pitons Management Area World Heritage site from 27 February to 3 March. The purpose of the workshop was to raise awareness on nominating marine areas from the Caribbean as World Heritage and to provide the ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 4 April 2006
Following the January 2006 meeting on the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) Programme of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA), six of the largest nature conservation NGOs and other partners have produced a joint statement charting how they are best positioned to support the implementation of the PoWPA in World Heritage sites. The statement includes a list of indicative activities that ...
2 min read
Friday, 24 March 2006
The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA) at University of Minnesota, USA, has established a Center for World Heritage Studies to undertake research and service projects in partnership with UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC). The objectives of this partnership are embodied in an agreement (MoU) between CALA and WHC signed on December 6, 2004. The CALA Center for World ...
2 min read
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 ...
2 min read
Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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 ...
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Monday, 20 March 2006
As part of its commitment to World Heritage in Portuguese-speaking countries, the Portuguese National Commission for UNESCO has generously supported the translation of the Basic Texts. These texts are made available on the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's web-page so that the broad community of lusophone countries can access and draw on this information for heritage safeguarding efforts in ...
Thursday, 16 March 2006
UNESCO's World Heritage Centre has signed a partnership agreement with the French not-for-profit organization, ‘Vocations Patrimoine, l'Héritage du futur', aimed at enhancing the management capacities of professionals currently working, or intending to work in the future, at World Heritage sites. The Association, whose President is the renowned paleo-anthropologist Professor ...
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Tuesday, 7 March 2006
Patrimonio Mundial en Manos de Jovenes, the second Spanish edition of the World Heritage in Young Hands educational resource kit for teachers has just come off the press.
The 2,000 copies are currently being distributed to ASPnet schools, ASP national coordinators, National Commissions, and UNESCO Field offices in all Spanish-speaking countries in the world.
The WHYH resource kit was ...
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Monday, 6 March 2006
Within the framework of the World Heritage Convention, the clarity and precision of the information made available to the States Parties are two essential requirements for an appropriate implementation of the principles relating to its functioning and its application at the level of each country. Experience has shown that many of these principles are generally not well assimilated by the ...
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Wednesday, 1 March 2006
On February 13-16, 2006, the World Heritage Centre organized the Steering Committee of the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative (CAWHFI) in Libreville, Gabon. During this event, conservators and wildlife directors of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and the Central African Republic met with representatives of the United Nations Foundation, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Wildlife ...
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Thursday, 23 February 2006
The World Heritage Centre, the United Nations Foundation, and Fauna and Flora International have launched a Rapid Response Facility (RRF) for natural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List for biodiversity values.
Up to US$30,000 can be quickly accessed to help overcome sudden and significant threats to these sites. The RRF is designed to make funds available within 3 weeks of having ...
Thursday, 23 February 2006
From January 30 to February 1st, 2006, a meeting was held in Paris to consider actions in support of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Programme of work on Protected Areas (CBD PoWPA) in natural World Heritage sites. To this end, the World Heritage Centre invited the Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat, representatives of six of the largest ...
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Tuesday, 21 February 2006
A poster competition for high school students was part of the "Heritage in Young Hands" awareness-raising campaign to promote understanding and appreciation among young Samoans about the meaning of "heritage", the World Heritage Convention, and the value of conserving and protecting cultural and natural heritage sites in Samoa. It was coordinated by the MNREM (Ministry of Natural Resources, ...
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Thursday, 16 February 2006
The project for the reinstallation of Aksum Obelisk (Stela 2) is completed UNESCO has completed the engineering design for the reinstallation of the Aksum Obelisk (Stela 2). The design was developed by the Italian engineer Prof Giorgio Croci (Director of Studio Croci & Associati) who was also in charge of the dismantling of Stela 2 in Rome and of its air transportation to Aksum in April ...
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Friday, 20 January 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 the ...
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Thursday, 19 January 2006
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, awarded UNESCO's 60th Anniversary Medal to Jane Goodall, the British-born primatologist, on Tuesday 17 January, at the Organization's Headquarters in Paris. The medal was presented in recognition of Ms Goodall's lifelong dedication to the preservation of Africa's endangered apes. "Ms Goodall's untiring work to preserve the great apes of ...
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Friday, 13 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 ...
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Thursday, 22 December 2005
On the occasion of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Luang Prabang's inscription on the World heritage list, this brochure presents the spirit, the concept, the process, the practice, the partnerships, the implementation and the achievements of this complex multi partner cooperation fostered by the World Heritage Centre and based on a city-to-city partnership between the city of ...
Thursday, 22 December 2005
The World Heritage Centre and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (with funding from the World Heritage Fund, and the technical contribution of the Department of Conservation of New Zealand) organized a workshop at Port Vila, Vanuatu, from 5-8 September. It was attended by 32 participants representing 12 States Parties from the Pacific Islands, as well as by experts and representatives from ICOMOS, ...
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Tuesday, 20 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 ...
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Tuesday, 20 December 2005
Following in the footsteps of Shell International and the International Council on Mining & Metals (an industry association of the largest mining companies in the world), yet in a bold show of leadership within the international financing community, Goldman Sachs, a global investment banking firm, has formally committed itself to "not knowingly finance extractive projects or commercial ...
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Friday, 9 December 2005
Ongoing efforts by the Office of the Mayor of Bamberg (Germany) to preserve the Town of Bamberg, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993 have succeeded: A construction project in the buffer zone (“City Arcade Project”), which might have had a negative impact on the World Heritage value and the integrity of the site, was stopped by the city authorities. The Mayor informed the ...
Friday, 9 December 2005
Within the framework for the project on the Development for Cultural and Ecotourism in the Mountainous Regions of Central and South Asia, there is very positive news concerning activities carried out by UNESCO project partners in Ladakh, India - the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC), in Murghab, Tajikistan (ACTED), and in the mountainous region surrounding Lake Issy Kul, Kyrgyzstan (NoviNomad). ...
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Wednesday, 7 December 2005
Bamiyan remains one of the most important examples of Gandharan art in the world, despite the Taleban’s destruction of its two monumental Buddhas in 2001. The Expert Working Group was formed in 2002 within the framework of the coordination mandate for all cultural projects in the country entrusted to UNESCO by the Afghan government, and will meet for the fourth time from 7 to 10 December 2005 ...
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Friday, 2 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 ...
Monday, 28 November 2005
The perfect planner for all those with a passion for World Heritage! The UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2006 features a helpful week-at-a-glance design. It is illustrated with 67 colour photos of World Heritage sites, each accompanied with a short caption. It also introduces the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage; its objectives, the selection ...
Friday, 18 November 2005
United Nations Foundation and Expedia announced the launch of the World Heritage Alliance, an innovative joint initiative to promote sustainable tourism and awareness of World Heritage sites and communities around the world. This partnership believes conscientious travelers can contribute directly to nature conservation, historic preservation, and poverty reduction through sustainable ...
4 min read
Tuesday, 25 October 2005
After a successful first workshop held on 29 September, the second of a series of training workshops for Jet tours guides is to be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 27 October 2005.
Organized in the context of the recently signed agreement between Laurence Berman-Clément, Director-General of Jet tours and Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre, the workshops aim to train, ...
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Monday, 17 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 ...
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Tuesday, 11 October 2005
The 15th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention elected Kenya and Peru to the World Heritage Committee at the 3rd open ballot. The World Heritage Committee is composed of the following States Parties:BeninCanadaChileCubaIndiaIsraelJapanKenyaKuwaitLithuaniaMadagascarMauritiusMoroccoNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPeruRepublic of KoreaSpainTunisiaUnited ...
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
The 15th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention elected Cuba to the World Heritage Committee at the 2nd open ballot.
Monday, 10 October 2005
The 15th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention elected Mauritius to the World Heritage Committee (reserved seat) . Elections will continue in Room VIII.
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, ...
Monday, 10 October 2005
States Parties elected at the 1st Open Ballot:
Canada
Israel
Korea, Republic of
Madagascar
Morocco
Spain
Tunisia
United States of America
State Party elected at the Ballot for the Reserved Seat:
Mauritius
Detailled Results of the 1st Open Ballot
Number of States Parties present and voting:
160
Invalid votes:
2
Number of valid ...
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Saturday, 8 October 2005
The 15th General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will be held in Room IV on 10-11 October. During the meeting, the General Assembly will elect twelve (12) new members to the World Heritage Committee. Delegates attending only the General Assembly can enter the building through the Place de Fontenoy entrance, where they will be given their security badges. The World ...
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Thursday, 29 September 2005
The Decisions adopted at the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Durban, South Africa from 10 to 17 July 2005, are now available online at the following address:htpp://whc.unesco.org/archive/2005/whc05-29com-22e.pdf
Friday, 23 September 2005
In mid-August 2005 the Government of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada, finalized the purchase of seventeen properties, including 22 buildings and eight wharfs for $5.5 million Canadian (over $4,678,000 USD) in the waterfront district of Old Town Lunenburg, a World Heritage site since 1995.
The buildings had been for sale since the previous winter by Clearwater Seafoods, a major employer ...
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