News

This unique fund brings together public and private donors for a common goal: better protection of nature in order to safeguard some of the most important areas on earth, including natural World Heritage sites. The Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) aims to address one of the main bottlenecks for the conservation of globally significant protected areas located in the developing world: the lack of ...

World Heritage Young Professionals Fora are among the flagship activities of the World Heritage Education Programme, serving as a platform for bringing young professionals and heritage experts together to foster intercultural learning and exchange, to debate about common concerns and to discover new roles for themselves in heritage conservation. As an integral part of the extended 44th ...

The theme for this World Migratory Bird Day is Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a bird! At the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, we support natural sites around the world in their conservation efforts, which in turn supports animals in maintaining their natural behaviors in healthy habitats. Bird song is not only enjoyable to listen to, but scientists and site managers can use it to evaluate the health ...

To celebrate the sixth edition of African World Heritage Day, on the 5th of May, UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) in collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) hosted a webinar under the African Union's (AU) theme for 2021: "Arts, culture and heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want". The Director of the WHC, Ms Mechtild Rössler, inaugurated the event with an ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to congratulate one of this year's Frankfurt Conservation Award (Bruno H. Schubert Prize) winners, the highest endowed private environmental prize in Germany - Julia Miranda Londoño, WCPA Deputy Chair and former Director of the Colombian National Parks Authority. All four winners of the Award have all contributed in their own way to keeping the ...

African World Heritage Day May 5th 2021  “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want”. Since the proclamation of African World Heritage Day in 2015 by the 38th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, every 5 May, African cultural and natural, tangible and intangible heritage is celebrated across the globe, raising awareness of the benefits of its ...

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has condemned the armed attack on an anti-poaching patrol that claimed three civilian lives, including those of Spanish journalists Roberto Fraile and David Beriain, in the Arly National Park – a UNESCO biosphere reserve and World Heritage site – in the east of Burkina Faso on 27 April.  “I condemn the murders of Spanish journalists David Beriain and ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre expresses its heartfelt sympathy after the fire that, on the morning of 18 April 2021, broke out on the edge of Cape Floral Regional Protected Areas (South Africa), a property inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004. UNESCO is in contact with the relevant national authorities who will assess the damage and impact of the fires which gutted the Jagger ...

The future of the world's ecological and human systems is deeply interconnected. Protecting nature means protecting people. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted local conservation budgets and shifted priorities across many marine World Heritage sites. The World Heritage Marine Programme's 2020-2021 Annual Overview provides insights about the challenges and successes across the ...

Earth Day is an annual event held on 22 April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on 22 April 1970, the history of the Day traces back to UNESCO. In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on 21 March 1970, the first day of spring in the northern ...

Call for participants: do you work with heritage places? ICCROM is seeking 20 participants to take part in an Asian regional course on Promoting People-Centred Approaches to Conservation of Nature and Culture. This online course is open to: Heritage practitioners from the cultural and natural heritage sectors and other individuals working at a specific heritage place. Individuals ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its sadness at the death of Prof Giorgio Croci, a structural engineer who made an indelible contribution to the support of several iconic World Heritage sites, including Angkor in Cambodia, the Colosseum in Rome and Ethiopia’s Axum Obelisk. Dr Croci studied civil engineering at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, and became a full ...

In 1982, UNESCO’s General Conference established 18 April as the International Day for Monuments and Sites, in many countries also celebrated as World Heritage Day. The day is promoted by ICOMOS globally, and the theme for 2021 is “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures”. The history of a place can involve many points of view. The conservation of cultural heritage requires careful examination of the ...

The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on cities and communities has been immense and has deepened structural inequalities, highlighting delocalised and unsustainable production and consumption models, as pointed out by the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Decalogue. The Towards a Future Tourism Strategy: Economic Recovery Tool for a Sustainable World Beyond the Pandemic meeting aimed to ...

UNESCO welcomes young heritage professionals, students and heritage enthusiasts across Europe and beyond, to join the upcoming open Webinar on European Youth and Heritage being held on 23 April 2021 from 14:00 to 15:30 CET, and discover a thriving network of Cultural Heritage Messengers. Webinar:European Youth And Heritage 23 April 2021, 14:00 to 15:30 CET Online ...

The Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre will be chairing one of the events of the G20 Culture Webinars “Addressing the climate crisis through culture”, session II on “Strategies and Actions for Increased resilience of Cultural Heritage” will take place on 12 April 2021, 13h20 to 14h25. The event will be accessible via livestream through the YouTube channel of the Italian Ministry of ...

Nominations are now open. Deadline for submission: 31 May 2021 The Prize rewards outstanding actions to safeguard and enhance the world’s outstanding cultural landscapes which contribute directly and significantly to the goals set out in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Prize winner, who may be an individual, an institution or a non-governmental organization, ...

UNESCO welcomes the Italian government's decision to ban large cruise ships from the Venice Lagoon. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee urged Italy in 2014 to ban large ships and oil tankers from entering the Venice Lagoon. Sometimes weighing up to 40,000 tonnes, they undermine the Venice lagoon and its ecological balance. The decree-law announced by the Italian Government is a very positive ...

On 26 March 2021, the Ambassadors of the Sultanate of Oman, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, United Republic of Tanzania and representative from Somalia joined the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to launch the three-year project  entitled: “Supporting capacity-building of World Heritage sites in East Africa” financed by the Sultanate of Oman. In her welcoming remarks, Ms Mechtild Rössler, Director ...

In 2020 many natural World Heritage sites and other important sites faced serious challenges and emergencies such as threats related to COVID-19, poaching spikes, conflicts, and unprecedent climate-related disasters (e.g. cyclones, wildfires, …). Precious time is often lost in organizing an intervention, while during this time, the world's natural heritage can be irreparably damaged. The ...