News

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has written to Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to Jean-Marie Guehenno, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, asking for measures to stop the poaching and killing of endangered animals in the five World Heritage sites of the DRC. The Director-General's ...

The annual steering committee of the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative (CAWHFI) took place in Libreville on March 21-22, 2007 under the aegis of the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC). This initiative aims to improve sustainable management of three forest landscapes of the Congo Basin: the Gamba-Conkouati complex, the Tri-National Sangha complex (TNS) and the ...

UNESCO will send a mission to the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, Peru, in view of concerns by the World Heritage Committee for the conservation of this outstanding Andean archaeological centre and its natural environment, inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site on the World Heritage List in 1983.From 23 to 30 April, the UNESCO mission, which will include the participation of ...

A UNESCO mission has confirmed serious threats to the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve and welcomed ambitious measures announced by the Ecuadorian authorities to preserve the site on UNESCO's World Heritage List.The mission confirmed the threat to the outstanding value and physical integrity of this iconic World Heritage site mainly from: the growing encroachment of invasive ...

A UNESCO World Heritage Centre/World Conservation Union (IUCN) mission is currently in Ecuador (April 8-12, 2007) at the request of the World Heritage Committee and at the invitation of the government of Ecuador, to assess the state of conservation of the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve. The mission will include high-level meetings with senior government officials from the ...

In its recently released first annual report, the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) Secretariat announced that it has taken an average of less than 6 days (below its 8-day target) to process requests for emergency grants, to solicit and receive reviews from at least two independent referees on the pertinence of the request, to decide on whether an application should be approved and to inform the ...

The threats posed by climate change to natural and cultural sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List are outlined in a new UNESCO publication, "Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage"*. The report features 26 examples - including the Tower of London, Kilimanjaro National Park and the Great Barrier Reef - case studies that are representative of the dangers faced by the 830 sites ...

Now available online. To download the pdf version, please click here. This 200-page publication provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of more than three decades of the implementation of the World Heritage Convention and highlights a number of its successes and challenges. It includes a history of the 1972 Convention and its implementation, an analysis of the natural and cultural ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Office in New York have received a large number of letters from individuals who are concerned about the state of conservation of the Church of St. Cyril - located near Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine- and in particular about planned reconstruction works in its interior.Please note that the Church of St. Cyril is not included in the ...

World Heritage site managers and people intending to pursue a career in World Heritage site management are being invited to apply for Fellowships offered through the UNESCO-VOCATIONS PATRIMOINE World Heritage Site Managers Programme. This programme - launched in January 2006 - is made possible as a result of an innovative public-private partnership between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre ...

"The technical mission that I had sent from 27 February to 2 March 2007 to the Old City of Jerusalem, which is inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and on the World Heritage in Danger List, completed its technical assessment on the works conducted on the Mughrabi pathway leading to the Haram el-Sharif.  The mission has submitted to me their Report (attached below) accompanied by ...

The following statement is issued by the Chairman of UNESCO's Executive Board, Mr Zhang Xinsheng. 1. The six Arab members of the Executive Board addressed a letter to the Chairman of the Executive Board on 14 February 2007, requesting that a special session of the Board be held on the subject of the activities under way at the site of the Old City of Jerusalem, in accordance with Rule 3 ...

The technical mission sent by the Director-General of UNESCO to the Old City of Jerusalem, which is inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, completed its technical assessment on the works conducted on the pathway to the Haram el-Sharif.This mission, conducted by Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre, took place from 27 February to 2 March 2007. It was composed of ...

[in French only] Actualités sur l'avancement des projets CFU :Le comité mixte de coordination (CMC) de la Convention France-UNESCO a eu lieu le 8 mars 2007 à l’UNESCO.Fleuve Niger et patrimoine : projet européen« Villages oubliés » du nord de la Syrie : suivi du projet de nomination sur la Liste du patrimoine mondialBéjaïa, Algérie : assistance à la création d’un plan de sauvegarde et de ...

Equipped with shovels, wheelbarrows and water buckets, twelve girls and thirteen boys between the ages of 14 and 17, from eight different countries in West Africa, set about attempting to put their newly learned conservation skills to work at the Royal Palaces of Abomey World Heritage site (Benin) from 19 to 23 February 2007.  The young people, participants in the First World Heritage ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has decided to send a technical mission to the Old City of Jerusalem, inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and on the World Heritage in Danger List, to carry out a technical assessment of the works on the access to the al-Haram al-Sharif. Following extensive consultations with all the parties concerned, the Director-General requested ...

Archaeologists at the University of Sheffield have unearthed a huge settlement at Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge, confirming that the Stonehenge monument was part of a larger ritual centre. The excavations reveal an enormous ancient settlement that once housed hundreds of people. Archaeologists believe the houses were constructed and occupied by the builders of nearby Stonehenge, the ...

The project on the Development of Cultural and Ecotourism in the Mountainous Regions of Central and South Asia has just produced a publication entitled "Poverty Alleviation and Community-Based Tourism: Experiences from Central and South Asia". This publication reports on pilot activities carried out in eight Central and South Asian countries between 2002 and 2005 in order to develop ...

Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO today offered the Organization's assistance in repairing damage caused by the fire that destroyed part of the historical city centre of Valparaiso, Chile, killing several people, on 3 February. "Firstly, I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this tragedy," the Director-General said. He also ...

On Tuesday 8 February 2007, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, expressed his "deep concern over the work initiated by the Israeli authorities on the site of the Old City of Jerusalem, which is protected by the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). By virtue of this Convention, the site is inscribed on the World Heritage ...