News

Following the devastating fire at Mount Kenya National Park in February 2019 and the subsequent rampaging wildfire at Simien Mountains National Park in April 2019, UNESCO organized a capacity-building workshop in disaster risk management for World Heritage site managers and other stakeholders from Kenya and Ethiopia from 11 to 14 June 2019 at Mount Kenya World Heritage site in Nanyuki ...

“Heritage it is an inherent part of our identity. It is a way to understand each other better” mentioned Victoria Kelly, one of the participants to the European Young Heritage Professionals Forum  that gathered young practitioners with a background in both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Participants came from the 28 Member States of the European Union to discuss the multifaceted ...

This World Oceans Day, 8 June, is dedicated to gender and the ocean. To celebrate the day, UNESCO honours all women whose scientific work is enhancing the conservation of the 49 marine sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Discover the fascinating work of some of these women scientists through the videos below. Ocean science is crucial for the protection and conservation of World ...

This year, World Environment Day is focused on air pollution. Almost all of us are affected by it: 92 per cent of people worldwide do not breathe clean air. So in 2019, those celebrating World Environment Day will urge governments, industry, communities, and individuals to come together to explore renewable energy and green technologies, and improve air quality in cities across the ...

The three countries agree on a roadmap to explore the boundary extension of the Okavango Delta World Heritage site to protect the river basin and the unique wetland system. The States Parties of Angola, Botswana and Namibia met in Maun in Botswana on 3-4 June 2019 to discuss transboundary cooperation and ways to improve conservation of the Okavango Delta (Botswana) World Heritage site ...

The Yaksu-ri and Susan-ri tombs, two exceptional testaments to the civilisation of the Koguryo kingdom, were successfully conserved thanks to the UNESCO/Republic of Korea Funds-in-Trust project “Safeguarding of Koguryo Tombs in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)”, coordinated by UNESCO and implemented since 2000 in three consecutive phases. The property includes about 30 tombs ...

The team of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its sadness after learning that former President of ICOMOS International, Prof Michael Petzet passed away on 30 May 2019. The passing away of Michael Petzet represents an important loss for the conservation community. His strong opinions were always a reflection of his unerring commitment to excellence in the conservation of ...

On 3 and 4 June, the UNESCO-Africa-China Forum on World Heritage Capacity Building and Cooperation will seek to strengthen collaboration between Africa and China in the preservation of World Heritage. It will also provide an opportunity to take stock of the sustainable development challenges facing World Heritage sites in both China and Africa and foster the sharing of experience in this ...

This World Oceans Day, 8 June, will be dedicated to gender and the ocean. To celebrate the day, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Heritage Centre are teaming up to honour all women whose scientific work is enhancing the conservation of the 49 marine sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Join up and send us your short video by 31 May 2019. Everyone ...

An outstanding video of Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve and the Sangha TriNational submitted by Ancel Langwa won the first prize in the Instagram video contest organized by the World Heritage Centre (WHC) and the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) on the occasion of the fourth edition of African World Heritage Day (5 May). The contest closed on Monday, May 20, 2019. The 27 submitted videos ...

This year’s International Day for Biological Diversity focuses on biodiversity as the foundation for our food and health and as a key catalyst to transforming food systems and improving human well-being. The World Heritage Convention recognizes some World Heritage properties specifically for their outstanding biodiversity values, protecting many of the most important ecosystems and areas of ...

The World Heritage Centre organized a series of testing sessions for the on‑line tool of the World Heritage Policy Compendium. These testing sessions, which took place between April and May 2019, gathered feedback and comments from key World Heritage stakeholders on the Policy Compendium On‑line Tool, currently being developed by the World Heritage Centre. The consultation is carried out ...

The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Maps with the support of Azerbaijan, can now be ordered from the World Heritage Centre website. The featured image on the map presents the Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower World Heritage property in Azerbaijan, country hosting the next session ...

28 young heritage professionals with diverse backgrounds varying from ethnomusicology to architecture and visual computing technologies will come together for the European Young Heritage Professionals Forum to address for the first time both tangible heritage and intangible cultural heritage and to explore the potential synergies and challenges of their protection and safeguarding in the ...

The panel on ‘Heritage and Water’ during the UNESCO International Water Conference (13-14 May at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris) highlighted the spiritual and cultural significance of water at many heritage sites, and called for enhancing cooperation between planners and practitioners to demonstrate the importance of water management systems to policymakers.They also emphasized the need to ...

This year’s World Migratory Bird Day is dedicated to highlighting the problem of pollution with the theme, ‘Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution.’ Waste and pollution are harmful to many World Heritage sites. Increased tourism means that more people are leaving trash at the world’s most iconic places. World Heritage sites are key stopover sites for birds, so the effective ...

A year-long process of discussion and collaboration regarding the update to Peru’s Tentative List culminated in April with the unanimous approval of the new proposal that will guide the country’s World Heritage strategy over the coming years.  The process involved an extensive preparatory and research phase, two national-level workshops, and permanent collaboration between the authorities ...

Describing nature’s decline as unprecedented and citing among many indicators, 1,000,000 species threatened with extinction, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) laid bare the threats to all life on earth in its Global Assessement Report, released at UNESCO headquarters today. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay says the report put ...

Launched at UNESCO in Paris on Monday 6 May, the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) sends an alarming message to the world. Ecosystems and biodiversity are deteriorating faster than at any time in human history, undermining humanity’s well-being and future ...

Since 2016, we have been celebrating African World Heritage Day on 5 May. Proclaimed by the General Conference at its 38th session in 2015, this day was established to raise public awareness, among young people in particular, of the immense potential of the African cultural and natural heritage. For this fourth celebration, we would like not only to celebrate the richness of this heritage, ...