News

UNESCO expresses its full support to the families of the victims of two deadly attacks carried out on Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 February 2022 against security guards on patrol in the W National Park in Benin, one of the components of the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex (Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger) inscribed on the World Heritage List. "These deadly attacks that occurred at a World Heritage site, ...

On 31 January 2022, African experts met to gather insights on best practices for implementing the 1972 Convention in Africa. In the framework of Global Priority Africa, this initiative aims to propose a long-term vision for implementing the 1972 Convention while focusing on challenges and opportunities identified within the framework of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable ...

Today is World Wetlands Day with the theme: Wetlands Action for People and Nature, highlighting the importance of action which ensures that wetlands are conserved and sustainably used. The World Heritage Convention works continuously with multiple entities with this aim of protecting the most important wetland systems in the world sustainably for future generations. Wetlands are currently ...

Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) has announced its first open call for proposals. The open call is from 31 January 2022 - 30 April 2022.For detailed information, please make sure to carefully read all documents accessible below. Process of LLF Call for Proposals 2022 What LLF funds and How to Apply Download the Call announcement here: ...

With the support of UNESCO, UNDP, the Government of Botswana and local partners, projects to support conservation and sustainable livelihoods of communities have started in the Okavango Delta World Heritage site. The activities, which are planned and led by local civil society organisations, are supported through the Community Management for Protected Areas for Conservation (COMPACT) ...

The World Heritage Scholarship of 2021, a residency programme of one month at the World Heritage property ‘Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland’ (Sweden), was awarded to artist Imke Rust from Namibia/Germany. The call for applications was open for people from all over the world, including researchers, artists or other cultural actors and creators. Imke’s winning proposal explored the links ...

The 4th call for applications for the World Heritage Residence Scholarship at the World Heritage site ‘Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland’ (Sweden), is now open until 1 February 2022. The scholarship is aimed to be awarded to one selected person with an idea to relate the World Heritage site ’Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland’ to another World Heritage site in an artistic, cultural or a ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its grief at the loss of Richard Leakey, the renowned paleoanthropologist and conservationist whose contributions helped protect Kenyan heritage and furthered the study of human evolution. Richard spent part of his childhood in Olduvai, in Ngorongoro Tanzania, and his parents Louis and Mary Leakey made important discoveries in fossils of ...

On 6 December 2021, UNESCO and ICCROM launched the first edition of their joint training initiative “Improving Management Effectiveness in African World Heritage properties (2021-22)” targeting 25 African countries and 80 experts, of which 21 are women.  The first phase, starting this month, is composed of three online workshops with six sessions each, delivered in English, French and ...

Strengthening synergies between culture and science in the fight against climate change was at the centre of the first ever meeting organised jointly by UNESCO, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) from 6 to 10 December 2021. This online 'International Co-sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change' ...