News

Paris - The World Heritage Committee will hold its 26th annual session from June 24 to 29 in Budapest, Hungary, during which it will inscribe new sites on the World Heritage List and review the List of World Heritage in Danger. The intergovernmental World Heritage Committee consists of 21 members elected by the General Assembly of the 172 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention. The ...

Cairns - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting since November 27 in Cairns, Australia, has inscribed 61 new cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage. The List now has 690 sites of "exceptional universal value" in 122 countries. Sites in Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Nicaragua and Suriname are on the List for the first time. Ten of the new sites are properties inscribed for natural ...

Cairns - On the third day of its 24th session, the World Heritage Committee added three sites to the List of World Heritage in Danger. The three sites, the Historic Town of Zabid (Yemen), the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal) and the Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore (Pakistan), were the subject of extensive discussion during the previous day's deliberations on the state of ...

Cairns, Australia - The World Heritage Committee today opened its 24th annual session in Cairns, Australia. The meeting, hosted by the Australian Federal government and the government of the State of Queensland, was attended by over 320 people. The meeting was attended by all twenty-one members of the World Heritage Committee: Australia, Belgium, Benin, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, ...

The World Heritage Committee will hold its 24th annual session from November 27 to December 2 in Cairns, Australia, during which it will inscribe new cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage List and review the List of World Heritage in Danger. The intergovernmental World Heritage Committee consists of 21 States Parties elected for a term of six years by the General Assembly of the ...

Paris - UNESCO's 58-member Executive Board - whose 157th session opened on October 5 - today nominated, in the third round of voting, Koichiro Matsuura as its candidate for the post of UNESCO Director-General, to replace the present Director General Federico Mayor at the end of his second 6-year mandate. Mr Matsuura's candidacy will be submitted to the approval of UNESCO's General Conference ...

The President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, announced on 2 March 2000 that the development of the proposed saltworks at San Ignacio would not proceed. The decision was made following the international UNESCO expert mission to the site in August 1999. The results of the mission were presented to, and adopted by, the World Heritage Committee at its twenty-third session held in Marrakesh ...

The World Heritage Committee at its twenty-third session held in Marrakesh (Morocco) from 29 November to 4 December 1999, adopted the conclusions and recommendations of the mission of international experts sent to the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino (Mexico). The Committee endorsed the main findings of the mission's report which "concluded that the World Heritage site under present ...

Marrakesh - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting since November 29 in Marrakesh (Morocco), has inscribed 48 new cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage List. The List now has 630 sites of "exceptional universal value" in 118 countries. Sites in South Africa, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Turkmenistan are on the List for the first time. Notable among the new sites are ...

Marrakesh - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in Marrakech (Morocco) since November 29, has today included four new sites on its List of World Heritage in Danger. They are the Iguacu National Park (Brazil), the Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda), the Salonga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the Groups of Monuments at Hampi (India). The inclusion of the Iguacu National ...

Marrakesh - The 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Marrakesh, Morocco, was informed today that the United Nations Foundation (UNF) would contribute $2.9 million to World Heritage sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The project, "Biodiversity Conservation in Regions of Armed Conflict: Protecting World Natural Heritage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo", ...

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in an Extraordinary meeting today welcomed efforts by the Australian government to help resolve the controversy surrounding uranium mining and milling in an enclave within the Kakadu National Park which, some claim, endangers this unique archaeological and ethnological site. The Committee decided not to inscribe the site, which has been on the World Heritage ...

Second letter from the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee to the Environmental Groups concerning the Whale Sanctuary of El Viscaino

The letter follows the receipt of about 30,000 petitions received and numerous individual letters and e-mails sent to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Letter sent by the Chairman of the World Heritage Committee to the Environmental Groups concerning the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino (Mexico)

Kyoto,Japan - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in Kyoto since November 30, has added 30 new sites and one extension to its World Heritage List of cultural and natural sites, bringing the number of listed sites of "exceptional universal value" to 582 in 114 countries. For the first time, the List includes sites located in Belgium and the Solomon Islands. Among this year's ...

Kyoto, (Japan) - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee today announced it removed the Old City of Dubrovnik (Croatia) and the Wieliczka Salt Mines (Poland) from its List of World Heritage in Danger due to the success of measures undertaken for their restoration and preservation. Dubrovnik, the Dalmatian Coast city dubbed "the pearl of the Adriatic" and dotted with beautiful Gothic, ...

Paris - UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee will hold its annual meeting from November 30 to December 5 in Kyoto (Japan) at the close of which it will inscribe new cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger. Alongside the 22nd session of the Committee, UNESCO is organising another event in Japan the International World Heritage Youth Forum ...

At 3.30 AM on Saturday 25th April 1998 the south coast of Spain was host to what has been dubbed the worst environmental disaster in Europe. A supporting wall of the reservoir containing the toxic wastes of the Aznalcollar mine burst, releasing 5 million cubic metres of toxic mud and acidic water onto the surrounding landscape. The toxic waste entered the Agrio River, a tributary of the ...

The following sites have been inscribed on the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee at its 21st session, meeting in Naples, Italy, 1-6 December, 1997. A total of 46 sites were inscribed: 7 natural sites; 38 cultural sites; and 1 mixed site. The work of the 21st Session thus brings the total number of sites on the World Heritage List to 552 (418 cultural, 114 natural and 20 ...

Threats to World Heritage areas in Australia continues to claim media headlines. At the Kakadu World Heritage area the Australian Government is supporting the development of a new uranium mine. At present the Government is awaiting an environmental impact statement and negotiating with the local indigenous population who are opposing the mine. In the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area the ...