News

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to publish the selected projects for the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Campaign 2019 What is the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Initiative? The WHV Initiative was launched in 2008 to encourage young people to undertake concrete actions and to play an active role in the protection, preservation and promotion of World Heritage sites. It consists ...

Today at UNESCO HQ in Paris, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) opened its Seventh session. During the session the members of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions (including the eight Biodiversity-related Conventions, the CBD, the World Heritage Convention, CITES, CMS, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, IPPC, the ...

International Earth Day is celebrated every year on 22 April to remind us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with sustenance, and that we have a collective responsibility to achieve balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations. This year’s Earth Day highlights the importance of protecting species. World Heritage sites are home to the ...

As we celebrate International Day for Monuments and Sites 2019, with the theme of Rural landscapes, we highlight the value of conserving this heritage formed through long-term, harmonious interaction between humankind and the natural environment. Protecting these landscapes is key for sustainable development. Rural landscapes are biocultural mosaics—using land sustainably for production ...

“Our hearts are broken”Audrey Azoulay “We are filled with emotion and our hearts are broken,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay as she witnessed the devastating fire tear through the historic cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris this evening. The cathedral is part of the 1991 World Heritage inscription, Paris, Banks of the Seine, which also includes bridges, quays and the banks of the ...

WHITRAP announces the online publication of the Proceedings of the Expert Meeting “The Implementation of UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation” held in Shanghai, China, from 26th to 28th March 2018. Urban living is increasingly becoming the most common mode of habitation. Urban areas are coping with the pressure resulting from increasing population, uncontrolled development, ...

On 26 and 27 March 2019, World Heritage Site Managers of the Arab States region came together in Cairo, Egypt for a workshop in the framework of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting which currently being implemented in the region. The World Heritage Centre, in close cooperation with the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) and the UNESCO Office in Cairo, organized the ...

Launched in September 2018, UNESCO’s World Heritage Journeys website (VisitEUWorldHeritage.com), produced in collaboration with National Geographic, is a finalist for a Webby Award—the Internet’s most coveted award. As a Webby Nominee, VisitEUWorldHeritage.com has been chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences as one of the five best in the world in the category of ...

World Heritage Youth Fora are among the flagship activities of the World Heritage Education Programme, serving as a platform for bringing young professionals and heritage experts together to foster intercultural learning and exchange, to debate about common concerns and to discover new roles for themselves in heritage conservation. In this context, and as an integral part of the 43rd session ...

The World Heritage Centre is determined to support Solomon Islands and Australia in exploring all options to hold the responsible company, owners and insurers to account. The Director of the World Heritage Centre wrote a letter to both the shipping and charter firm South Express Ltd, the owner of the MV Solomon Trader, and the insurance firm Korea Protection and Indemnity Club (Korea P&I ...

In response to the fires in Mount Kenya National Park in early March, the Kenyan authorities - Mount Kenya Trust - submitted a grant application to the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) and obtained the maximum amount of US$30,000. This support will make it possible to finance hours of helicopter flights to monitor the Park's risk areas and intervene with water bombers in the event of new fire ...

UNESCO Sub-regional Conference on World Heritage Global Strategy in the context of South Asia met in Kolkata (21-22 February 2019) released the Kolkata Recommendation as a strategy for future implementation of the World Heritage Global Strategy in the Sub-region. The Sub-regional Conference, attended by approximately 55 governmental officials, experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, ...

World Heritage is the official publication from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, dedicated to presenting detailed feature articles about the most outstanding cultural and natural sites around the world. World Heritage is a quarterly magazine published since 1996 in English, French and Spanish. Explore recent issues or subscribe today. We would be very grateful if you would spend a few ...

On 26 and 27 February 2019, World Heritage Focal Points of the Arab States region came together at UNESCO Headquarters (Paris, France) for a workshop in the framework of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting exercise which is currently being implemented in the region. The workshop, hosted by the World Heritage Centre in close cooperation with the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage ...

This Women’s Day we celebrate our female World Heritage site managers: heroines protecting our most outstanding places. Women play a crucial role in conservation - they are the rangers protecting Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo), the first site in the region to have female rangers. They safeguard marine World Heritage sites such as Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park ...

Together for heritage! The European Young Heritage Professionals Forum will take place from 20 to 24 May 2019 in Zadar, Croatia to explore potential synergies and challenges of working on tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the European context. The Forum will enable participants to enhance project management and communication skills by working on their own heritage projects with ...

A new IUCN SOS – Save Our Species Call for Proposals is now open. Financed in partnership with the European Commission’s DG DEVCO, this call is focused on African Wildlife. It prioritises five species of carnivores, namely lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs and Ethiopian wolves. A limited proportion of the funding will be earmarked for additional threatened species. These include ...

For more than a week, devastating fires have raged in Mount Kenya National Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 and a part of the Mount Kenya Biosphere Reserve since 1978. According to the Kenya National Parks Service (KWS), these fires have already destroyed more than 80,000 hectares of forest and grassland, which represents almost half the area of the World Heritage site. ...

An oil spill has occurred near East Rennell, the only natural World Heritage site in the Pacific that is on the Danger List. Experts from Australia are currently working with the national authorities to ascertain the status of the situation and advice on possible mitigation measures to be taken. On 4 February 2019, the bulk carrier MV Solomon Trader ran aground in Kangava Bay, Rennell ...

The theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 14: life below water. It is also the first World Wildlife Day highlighting marine biodiversity. World Heritage marine sites are home to the world’s most exceptional species on earth such as the Bengal tiger, marine iguanas, and the Coelacanth, the world’s oldest fish.Despite this rich wildlife, our sites ...