The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/6,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 6, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Also recalling that capacity-building is one of the Strategic Objectives of the World Heritage Convention and is at the core of the sustainable implementation of the Convention and therefore is a priority for the effective implementation of the World Heritage Convention for all stakeholders;
4. Expresses its concern over the challenges faced by the States Parties in the protection and conservation of World Heritage properties in the face of increased global economic, social, digital and environmental challenges, as well as the need to strengthen national and local capacities through enhanced knowledge exchange, capacity-building and training of current and future national and local officials in heritage conservation and management;
5. Takes note of the need to enhance expert diversity, strengthen regional expertise, enhance skills to address issues at endangered sites, develop technical and vocational training modules for youth, develop competencies for all World Heritage stakeholders, improve the use of digital technologies within the process of identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage, and to develop a strategic multi-stakeholder partnership programme to enhance the credibility and visibility of the World Heritage brand globally;
6. Also takes note of the challenges faced by all stakeholders to maintain capacity-building activities during the global COVID-19 pandemic and commends the progress made by the States Parties, the World Heritage Centre, the Advisory Bodies, Category 2 Centres under the auspices of UNESCO (C2Cs) related to World Heritage as well as the UNESCO Chairs with the implementation of the World Heritage Capacity-Building Strategy (WHCBS), and notably the efforts to adapt capacity-building activities during the global COVID-19 pandemic;
7. Takes note of the implementation of the regional capacity-building strategies and initiatives, and calls upon States Parties and all concerned partners and stakeholders to follow up on the implementation of the strategies developed for each region;
8. Thanks the Governments of Norway, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland for the financial support they extended to the WHCBS and the World Heritage Leadership Programme, also thanks the Governments of the People’s Republic of China and Oman for supporting World Heritage Capacity-building activities in Africa, and encourages States Parties and other stakeholders to continue supporting the implementation of the WHCBS by providing financial support and/or by reinforcing the human resources of the institutions involved;
9. Also recalling that Category 2 Centres under the auspices of UNESCO and UNESCO Chairs have the mandate of contributing to the implementation of the Organization’s strategic priorities, programmes and global development agendas, notably through capacity building, welcomes the progress made by Category 2 Centres and UNESCO Chairs related to World Heritage with the implementation of their activities, also calls upon interested stakeholders to support these Category 2 Centres, UNESCO Chairs and their activities, and also encourages States Parties to make full use of the services and resources that Category 2 Centres provide, in a spirit of international cooperation;
10. Also takes note of the 10-year anniversary of the WHCBS in 2021 and, further recalling its request for an evaluation of the WHCBS, notes that no funding has been made available for this purpose to date, and therefore will consider reallocating USD 30,000 as seed money from the World Heritage Fund under item 14 of the agenda, to initiate the evaluation and the creation of a new WHCBS;
11. Requests the World Heritage Centre and ICCROM, in cooperation with IUCN and ICOMOS, to submit an independent results-based evaluation of the outcomes of the WHCBS, based on close consultation and a participatory, transparent, and inclusive process with the States Parties and other capacity building stakeholders and beneficiaries, for examination at its 45th session;
12. Notes with appreciation the generous financial support offered by the State Party of Saudi Arabia to conduct the abovementioned independent evaluation of the WHCBS;
13. Also requests, based on the independent results-based evaluation and assessment of the outcomes of the WHCBS, and taking into account the results of the Periodic Reporting process, that a new WHCBS with clear priorities, strategic objectives, expected outputs and outcomes, and relevant indicators be developed for a time period of 2023-2032 and presented, if funding allows, for review at its 46th session;
14. Reiterates its invitation to States Parties to contribute financial resources for the renewal of the WHCBS through earmarked contributions to the World Heritage Fund or by providing extra-budgetary support to the World Heritage Centre for this purpose;
15. Finally requests the World Heritage Centre and ICCROM to submit a progress report on the implementation of the WHCBS, for examination at its 45th session.

1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/6A,
2. Recalling Decision 45 COM 6 adopted at its extended 45th session (Riyadh, 2023),
3. Recalling the outcomes of the 2023 independent evaluation of the World Heritage Capacity-Building Strategy (WHCBS) and the evaluators’ guidelines for the revision of the WHCBS, and also recalling its request that the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Advisory Bodies, develop a new WHCBS for the decade 2025-2035 for review at its 47th session, if funding allows,
4. Commends the progress made by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the Advisory Bodies, the States Parties, the Category 2 Institutes and Centres under the auspices of UNESCO related to World Heritage, as well as the UNESCO Chairs with the implementation of the 2011 WHCBS;
5. Takes note of the progress made with the revision of the WHCBS;
6. Takes note of the progress made with the implementation of the regional and thematic capacity-building strategies and initiatives, and calls upon States Parties and all concerned partners and stakeholders, including the Advisory Bodies, to support and follow up on the implementation of the strategies and initiatives developed for each regional and thematic area;
7. Thanks the governments of Australia, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland for the continued financial support they extended to the WHCBS and the World Heritage Leadership Programme, and also thanks the States Parties of Belgium, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and Oman for supporting World Heritage capacity-building activities, notably in the Africa region;
8. Encourages States Parties and other stakeholders to continue supporting the implementation of the WHCBS by providing financial support and/or reinforcing the human resources of the institutions involved;
9. Reiterates its call upon all States Parties to provide dedicated voluntary contributions under the World Heritage Fund and/or extra-budgetary support to the World Heritage Centre and the World Heritage Leadership programme for capacity building;
10. Noting that insufficient funding has been provided for the revision of the WHCBS thus far, reiterates its appeal for States Parties to contribute dedicated financial resources to that effect;
11. Finally requests the World Heritage Centre and ICCROM to submit a progress report on the World Heritage-related capacity-building activities and the WHCBS, for examination at its 47th session.

1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/6B,
2. Recalling Decision 45 COM 6 adopted at its extended 45th session (Riyadh, 2023),
3. Congratulates the World Heritage-related Category 2 Institutes and Centres under the auspices of UNESCO (C2Cs) for their contributions to the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, especially towards the Strategic Objectives of the World Heritage Convention and UNESCO’s Global Priorities;
4. Thanks the governments of Bahrein, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Republic of Korea and South Africa for hosting active World Heritage-related C2Cs and thereby supporting the work of UNESCO and the implementation of the World Heritage Convention;
5. Thanks States Parties that are contributing to the implementation of the World Heritage Convention through the C2Cs and further encourages States Parties to support these C2Cs in their regions for the implementation of World Heritage-related activities;
6. Encourages States Parties to make full use of the capacities of the different C2Cs, based on their specialist areas, and to support and participate in their activities whenever possible;
7. Also encourages C2Cs to continue organising activities that are international or regional in scope and contribute to the global development agendas, the strategic priorities of the World Heritage Committee and the implementation of the Framework Action Plans developed for each region as part of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting;
8. Further encourages C2Cs to participate actively in the revision process of the World Heritage Capacity-Building Strategy and its subsequent implementation;
9. Requests the World Heritage-related Category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 March 2025, a progress report on all their activities concerning the implementation of the World Heritage Convention since the present session, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 47th session.