News

Integrating World Heritage in the Curricula of Institutions of Higher Learning in Africa – UNESCO's World Heritage Centre (WHC) and Chair on African Heritage at the Great Zimbabwe University join forces to promote capacity building in Africa. On 24 February 2021, the Africa Unit of the UNESCO WHC and the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), held an online consultation meeting dedicated to ...

UNESCO expresses its sorrow and condolences at the death of Hugo Houben. As an engineer of electronics and nuclear physics, Hugo Houben embarked on another path, more in line with his ethical commitments. At the age of 28, he responded to a request to participate in the construction of a popular village in Algeria. It was then that he discovered that earth can be a good construction material ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC), in collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and the UNESCO Field Offices in Africa, organized an regional workshop from 17 to 19 February 2021, where National Focal Points from the Africa region participated online. Following the submission of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting questionnaires in July 2020 and several consultations ...

After closing the UN Decade on Biodiversity, countries are this year negotiating a new 10 year agenda to halt the accelerating loss of biodiversity. This new and overarching global biodiversity framework, dubbed the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, is to be adopted at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 15), planned ...

UNESCO is closely following plans for a 75-hectare amusement park under discussion near the World Heritage site of Angkor in Cambodia. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has also received numerous appeals from third parties expressing their concern. The plenary session of the International Coordinating Committee for Angkor (ICC), held virtually on 26 and 27 January, addressed this project ...

After a closure of more than ten years, the Lopé National Park Ecomuseum reopened its doors on 5 February 2021 with an official ceremony attended by the Executive Secretary and staff of the National Parks Agency (ANPN), local authorities and the head of culture from the UNESCO office in Libreville. This important building is of great pedagogical interest for learning about conservation ...

Following the outbreak of avian influenza currently raging in Senegal and Mauritania, UNESCO organized on February 11, 2021, a virtual information and consultation meeting with the Senegalese and Mauritanian authorities in charge of the management of the Djoudj National Bird Park (PNOD), the Diawling National Park (PND) and the Banc d'Arguin National Park (PNBA) as well as representatives of ...

The Programme on African Protected Areas & Conservation (IUCN-Papaco) offers a brand new series of online learning courses adapted to different profiles of professionals working in protected areas. Each course is built on 50 videos (from our MOOCs) followed by quizzes to enable protected area actors to develop the skills that are essential for their profession. The RANGER Essential is ...

UNESCO, in partnership with World Monuments Fund (WMF), sent a team of experts from the University of Cape Town led by Prof. Heinz Rüther to the Stone Town of Zanzibar World Heritage property from 28 January to 2 February 2021. They  are undertaking 3D data collection at the historic House of Wonders building, which partially collapsed on 25 December 2020, as part of an in-depth survey and ...

This year’s theme for World Wetlands Day ‘Wetlands and Water,’ highlights the importance of wetlands as a source of freshwater and encourages action to restore them and stop their loss.  The UNESCO World Heritage Convention works continuously with other entities to protect the most important wetland systems in the world. Wetlands are currently protected under different designations, ...