News

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has condemned the destruction of parts of the Ancient City of Bosra during combats in the World Heritage site on 22 December 2015, as confirmed by the Syrian Directorate of Antiquities and Museums. There is fear of further deterioration to the site due to severe damage to the western courtyard adjacent to Bosra’s 2nd century Roman theatre and to ...

Following the Fourth meeting of the Coordinating Committee on the World Heritage Serial Nomination of the Silk Roads in Almaty, Kazakhstan, 24-25 November 2015, more than 50 representatives and experts from twelve countries together with UNESCO representatives, international experts and representatives of IICC Xi’an (China), Secretariat of Silk Roads Coordination Committee,  today released a ...

The work at the World Heritage Marine Programme would not be possible without the help of its partners and donors. This month, the Marine Programme welcomes a new partnership with the French Agency for Marine Protected Areas.  France’s support will scale up our peer-to-peer learning platforms for managers and grow our on-the-ground capacity for marine conservation around the world. World ...

The World Heritage Centre organized an international meeting on natural heritage protection and management in the Arab States on 21 December at the UNESCO Headquarters.   The meeting entitled “The Management of Natural Heritage in Support of Sustainable Development: An Institutional Challenge in the Arab States” was co-chaired by Mechtild Rössler, Director of the Heritage Division and World ...

A new strategy has been devised to reduce grazing pressure on the Simien Mountains National Park (Ethiopia) (SMNP) World Heritage site and its surroundings through measures that harmonize grazing and conservation needs. SMNP in northern Ethiopia is a spectacular landscape, where massive erosion over millions of years has created jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys and sharp precipices ...

In the framework of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), Mechtild Rössler, Director of the World Heritage Centre, highlights the importance of understanding climate change and its impact on UNESCO World Heritage sites. “Climate change concerns all of us.  It concerns World Heritage sites, especially islands in the Pacific ...

Virunga National Park, a World Heritage site in Democratic Republic of the Congo, has launched a #FestiveVirunga appeal to raise funds for the park’s incredible rangers. And now there is a matching challenge - for just 1 week, for every dollar you give to the park, a private donor will be giving 2 more! In true #TeamVirunga spirit, we would be so grateful if you would consider sharing this ...

On 12 December 2015, the participants of the International Conference on “Culture for Sustainable Cities” (10-12 December 2015, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China) adopted the “Hangzhou Outcomes”, culminating in nine key recommendations to build on the power of culture for sustainable urban development. The International Conference on “Culture for Sustainable Cities” in Hangzhou, People’s ...

The European Commission continues its support of the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initative (CAWHFI) by allocating 5 million Euro over the course of three years. The CAWHFI project is part of the World Heritage Programmes: “Natural World Heritage in the Congo Basin” and implemented by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, since 2004. This programme is initiated in the form of a ...

UNESCO in partnership with Think City, a community-based urban rejuvenation organization in Penang, held a conference entitled “UNESCO Regional Conference on Harmonizing Actions to Reduce Risks for Cultural Heritage in Asia and the Pacific” from 7 - 9 December 2015 at Hotel Jen in Penang, Malaysia. The conference provided a platform from which to raise awareness across several disaster, ...

On 15 December, the Representatives of Italy, Jordan, UNESCO, INTERPOL, UNODC officially opened an exhibition on the protection of cultural heritage that will be displayed at the United Nations Headquarters from 14 to 24 December. The exhibition is co-organized by Italy, Jordan, UNESCO, INTERPOL and UNODC with the aim to highlight the new partnership to act together against destruction and ...

On 7 December 2015, during the COP 21, the Malagasy Minister of the Environment, Ecology, the Sea and the Forests, Ralava Beboarimisa, met with Edmond Moukala, Chief of the Africa Unit of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, to discuss progress made in implementing recommendations from the World Heritage Committee regarding the conservation of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana. The Minister ...

UNESCO is pleased to announce the Call for Participants for the Regional Youth Forum for the World Heritage in Africa, which will take place 28 April to 4 May 2016 on Robben Island World Heritage property in South Africa. The deadline for applications is 31 January 2016. Part of the World Heritage Education Programme, this African Youth Forum seeks to provide a sustainable platform to ...

On 15 December, UNESCO in Brazil, the Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) and the Municipal Government of Congonhas will inaugurate one of the most important projects for preserving the country's memory: the Museum of Congonhas. The institution comes with the objective of enhancing perception and interpretation of the multiple dimensions of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de ...

The Qatar Development Fund (QDF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) signed today their first Memorandum of Understanding to support the implementation of UNESCO’s programme for the protection of cultural and natural heritage in emergency situations. The MOU provides a $2 million grant as part of a 2014 pledge by H.E. the Prime Minister of the ...

At COP21 on 5 December 2015, the President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, met with Mechtild Rössler, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The President made a presentation at the event "UNESCO sites: a climate change observatory ", where he spoke of his strong commitment to World Heritage conservation. He described progress made with fishery regulations at the Phoenix Islands World ...

Armed conflict and natural disasters pose a dire threat to cultural heritage throughout the Asia-Pacific region. News stories are becoming all too frequent of priceless cultural treasures being damaged or lost forever and there are currently few measures in place to mitigate the effects of and recover from these dangers – even UNESCO World Heritage sites too often lack these ...

On 5 December 2015, Director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre Mechtild Rössler met with Mr Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to discuss synergies among biodiversity-related Conventions, and joint work on reporting mechanisms. Both agreed to envisage to report to their statutory bodies and to prepare for joint events at the World ...

UNESCO organized an International Expert Meeting on the Responsibility to Protect as applied to the Protection of Cultural Heritage from 26 to 27 November 2015. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the concept of Responsibility to Protect and its possible application to the protection of cultural heritage. Participants included 22 distinguished specialists and practitioners ...

The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Maps with the generous support of Turkey, can now be ordered from the World Heritage Centre website. The featured image on the Map presents the Historic Areas of Istanbul in Turkey, country hosting the next session of the World Heritage Committee in July 2016. This poster-sized ...

At its cabinet meeting yesterday, the Belize government approved a policy that will legally ban offshore exploration in all seven areas that make up the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System World Heritage area. The decision will effectively exclude the entire World Heritage area from any future oil exploration and make the site consistent with the World Heritage Committee’s position that oil ...

In the framework of the project entitled “The Power of Culture: Supporting Community-Based Management and Sustainable Tourism at World Heritage Sites in Malaysia and Southeast Asia” made possible thanks to support from the Government of Malaysia via the Malaysia Funds-in-Trust (MFIT) under the Malaysia-UNESCO Cooperation Programme (MUCP), UNESCO is spearheading a new approach to sustainable ...