News

Following news of the collapse of a part of the House of Wonders (Beit-al-Ajaib) in Stone Town, Zanzibar on 25 December 2020, the Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Ms Mechtild Rössler joins the people of Zanzibar, and the United Republic of Tanzania in general to mourn this sudden and significant loss. The House of Wonders is one of the outstanding monuments in the Stone Town of ...

12 December, 2020 marked the 30th anniversary of the inscription of “Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.  To celebrate the occasion, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve, in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ...

The World Heritage Centre expresses concerns over on-going bushfires at Fraser Island World Heritage area in Australia, the largest sand island in the world, and solidarity with the people affected by the blaze. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has been receiving expressions of concern over the possible impact of the bushfire on the World Heritage property “Fraser Island”. The property, ...

UNESCO has assessed the measures taken by governments to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on culture professionals and on the sector as a whole, an impact which appears to be more severe than previously assumed, according to data collected by the Organization and contained in a new policy guide. In the film industry, it is estimated that ten million jobs will be lost in 2020 (1), ...

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre vigilant on potential impacts of oil and gas exploration in Namibia and Botswana on the Tsodila and Okavango Delta World Heritage properties. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has been made aware of petitions by civil society groups received by the UNESCO office in Windhoek, Namibia. The Centre is following with attention and concern the oil and gas exploration ...

Fostering Youth Commitment towards World Heritage The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the selected projects of the World Heritage Volunteers 2020 - 2021 Campaign. Under the theme Fostering Youth Commitment towards World Heritage, 55 action camp projects will be implemented from February to December 2021, at 55 World Heritage properties and sites on the Tentative Lists, ...

12 December 2020 marked the 30th anniversary of the inscription of the Historic Centre of San Gimignano on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.  On this occasion, the City of San Gimignano organized a celebratory event, bringing together high-level representatives from the Italian government and UNESCO, as well as site managers, experts, artists, and representatives from the public sector and ...

The year 2020 was intended to be a “biodiversity super year”. Many far-reaching decisions concerning the preservation of biodiversity were meant to be taken in 2020. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of international meetings could not take place and have been postponed. Meanwhile, the pandemic is not an isolated phenomenon. Scientific evidence links the emergence of the COVID-19 ...

On 3 December 2020, climate experts and local management teams from the 50 UNESCO marine World Heritage sites met online in an effort to accelerate replication of initial successes in assessing climate vulnerability.  The online meeting was the fourth edition in a new digital exchange platform that was launched by the World Heritage Centre in March 2020.During the meeting, experts from ...

The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre can now be ordered from the World Heritage Centre website. The featured image on the map presents the Fujian Tulou World Heritage property in China, country hosting the next extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee in June/July 2021. This poster-sized wall map features all 1,121 World ...

UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund (HEF) supported an on-site firefighting training on 7 December 2020 for local communities and site management at the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi World Heritage site in Uganda organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Department of Museums and Monuments. The training is part of an ongoing HEF project for “Post-fire emergency ...

Mountain biodiversity is the theme of this year’s International Mountain Day, a day to reflect on the importance of their rich biodiversity, as well as address the threats they face. Mountains are home to 15% of the world´s population and host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots. They provide freshwater for everyday life to half of humanity. Their conservation is a key factor for ...

The Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre participates in the international scientific meeting on the “Heritage Impact Assessment: A Tool for the Protection and Safeguarding of World Heritage” On 26 November 2020, the Foundation for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Rabat, in partnership with the Ministry Of Youth Culture And Sports and UNESCO, organised an international ...

At dawn on Friday 04 December 2020, the Tapoa base at the entrance to the W natural park in Niger was the target of a deadly attack that claimed the lives of two park officials. UNESCO, through the World Heritage Centre, strongly condemns this attack, which comes in a global context already weakened by a health crisis due to COVID-19.  "This armed attack fills us with deep sadness and ...

The Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary hosted from 17 to 24 November the training on the use of new technologies to improve the surveillance and ecological monitoring of this property inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Bird Sanctuary is inscribed since 1981 on the World Heritage List as a natural site, alongside the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal. It is the third largest ...

On 25 November 2020, the World Heritage Centre held an 'Online technical meeting for Libyan properties on the List of the World Heritage in Danger' to support Libya in drafting the desired state of conservation and corrective measures for the eventual removal of Old Town of Ghadamès from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The online meeting brought together representatives of Libyan ...

On 23 November 2020, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH), organized an online meeting on “World Heritage in Danger in the Arab States Region, Processes and Actions”. Focal points and site managers responsible for properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in the Arab States region, as well as ...

The World Heritage Centre in collaboration with the five field offices in the African region (Abuja, Dakar, Harare, Nairobi and Yaoundé) and the African World Heritage Fund has organised four online workshops, between 27 November and 3 December 2020, with site managers from each of the African sub-regions in order to share and discuss the preliminary outcomes of the Periodic Reporting ...

Resilient Reefs introduced its bold, inclusive approach to climate adaptation at the UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue in December 2020. The Resilient Reefs Initiative 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 Dialogue, held by videoconference, brought together over 500 ...

Climate change is now the biggest threat to natural World Heritage, according to a report published today by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). A third (33%) of natural World Heritage sites are threatened by climate change, including the world’s largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef, assessed as having a “critical” outlook for the first time. “Natural World Heritage ...

As part of its new cooperation programme with UNESCO, the Government of Norway committed an additional amount of NOK 50 million over two years (equivalent to USD 5,64 million), to further strengthen efforts to improve the state of conservation of World Heritage sites in Africa, in particular natural World Heritage properties and those inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Norway ...