News

UNESCO and the Ministry for Culture in Comoros have joined forces to carry out a project for "Capacity-building in Sustainable Tourism Development and Management for World Heritage in the Comoros" financed by the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust to UNESCO, which will be carried out in partnership with the National Centre for Scientific Research and Documentation (CNDRS) starting in September 2020 ...

Conservation works to reinforce Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a World Heritage property in the island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, have been completed. The works were started in August 2019 with the deconstruction of sections of the fortress wall that were too weak. Care was taken to ensure that the stones were placed according to the original style of construction, and it was ...

Following destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan, quick action is needed to save the lives of both people and tigers. The Rapid Response Facility (RRF) is supporting WWF India to restore human-tiger conflict prevention measures in the Indian part of the Sundarbans, home of a World Heritage Site, Biosphere Reserve, as well as a Ramsar site.  The Sundarbans is the world’s largest contiguous ...

Four participants from Comoros and Rwanda are joining 14 other representatives from African countries to participate in a two-day online workshop entitled "Elaboration of nominations to the World Heritage List" on 13 and 14 August 2020. The workshop, organized by the School of African Heritage (École du Patrimoine Africain - EPA) in collaboration with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre,  the ...

Following the devastating twin explosions in Beirut, Lebanon, on 4 August, UNESCO mobilized leading cultural organizations and experts from Lebanon and abroad in an online meeting on 10 August to coordinate emergency and longer-term measures to safeguard the city’s severely damaged cultural heritage and rehabilitate its cultural life. The explosions at the port of Beirut did not only claim ...

The theme of International Youth Day 2020, “Youth Engagement for Global Action” aims to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes, as well as draw lessons on how their representation and engagement in formal institutional politics can be enhanced. Our World Heritage is ...

UNESCO profoundly regrets the loss of life and property in a number of historic centers in Yemen, including in the World Heritage sites of Zabid, Shibam, and Sana’a, in recent days following exceptional extreme weather conditions in the country. The resulting damage is endangering the lives of the inhabitants of these historic centers, leaving some of them without adequate shelter and ...

While reiterating expressions of condolence and solidarity with the people of Lebanon in the wake of the tragic explosions in Beirut on 4 August 2020,  UNESCO is taking action and organizing a meeting on 10 August together with the Directorate General of Antiquities in the Ministry of Culture of Lebanon and its partners – ALIPH, ARC-WH, Blue Shield, ICCROM, ICOM and ICOMOS - to jointly assess ...

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, the link between environmental damage and pandemics has again been established. Many indigenous peoples have warned over decades about increasing threats to natural heritage so important for their survival. Through their traditional knowledge and their relationship to nature, they have long known that environmental dilapidation can trigger disease. We are ...

The World Heritage Centre and the advisory body for natural World Heritage, IUCN, are following with concern the situation in the immediate surroundings of the Galápagos Islands, where the massive presence of industrial fishing vessels from diverse nationalities has been repeatedly reported by media worldwide.  The state of conservation for the Galápagos Islands, including the outcomes of ...

UNESCO expresses its condolences for the death of José de los Santos Sauna, Governor of the indigenous community of the Kogui people, on 6 August 2020 in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia), caused by coronavirus Covid-19. The cabildo governor will be remembered as one of the most representative leaders of the indigenous peoples of Colombia, who stood out for his work in defending ...

The German Commission for UNESCO invites UNESCO World Heritage sites and possibly other UNESCO designated sites such as Biosphere Reserves in Africa to submit proposals for financial support projects that help UNESCO designated sites to overcome an existing impairment due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Through this support, the German Commission for UNESCO contributes to a relief fund set up by ...

UNESCO, through the World Heritage Centre and the Secretariat of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, is observing with attention and concern the large number of fires which have struck the Pantanal ecoregion in recent weeks. According to information provided by experts and firefighters on site as well as satellite data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE - ...

Resilient Reefs introduced its bold, inclusive approach to climate adaptation at the first G20 International Working Group on Coral Reef Conservation in July 2020. Reef Resilience is a new approach to marine conservation being piloted across five UNESCO-listed World Heritage sites, and backed by a global private-public consortium. The working group, held by videoconference and hosted by the ...

UNESCO will support the social cohesion and resilience of communities suffering from years of armed conflict in central Mali as part of a major new project, made possible through USD 1 million in funding from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH).  The project will provide critical support to the rehabilitation of the World Heritage site of ...

UNESCO expresses its sorrow at the death of Mr Eusebio Leal on 31 July 2020. Historian of the city of Havana, Cuba and Director of the conservation programme for the historic centre of Havana, Eusebio Leal was an exceptional witness to and actor for cultural heritage worldwide. The passing of Mr. Leal is a great loss for the city of Havana and for Cuba. UNESCO offers its condolences to the ...