News

On 20 May 2021, invasive species experts and local management teams from the 50 UNESCO marine World Heritage sites met online to share lessons learned in the prevention and eradication of invasive species. According to the 2020 IUCN World Heritage Outlook, 75 percent of the 50 UNESCO marine World Heritage sites are threatened by invasive species. When species are introduced to marine ...

Following the official launch of the project “ Supporting capacity-building of World Heritage sites in East Africa (Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, United Republic of Tanzania)” supported by the Sultanate of Oman, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC) organized the first consultation meetings with concerned national institutions and partners of the five beneficiary countries, from 27 ...

World Oceans Day How Marine World Heritage builds resilience for people and nature Spread across 37 nations from the tropics to the poles, the 50 UNESCO marine World Heritage sites are among the ocean’s most productive waters. Their abundance of marine life is vital to sustain the livelihoods of indigenous communities, local businesses and artists alike. This year’s United ...

This year’s World Environment Day will launch and focus on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a global rallying cry to heal our planet. Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet - and its people. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ...

The German Commission for UNESCO herewith invites UNESCO World Heritage sites and UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Africa to submit proposals for projects that help them to overcome an existing impairment caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. Up to 20,000 Euro financial support will be provided to selected projects. By providing financial and technical support to UNESCO World Heritage sites and ...

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has released the first set of data for Indicator 11.4.1 related to culture for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Agenda 2030. The results and analysis are available in a new report, Tracking Investment to Safeguard the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage. Indicator 11.4.1 is defined as “total per capita expenditure on the preservation, ...

UNESCO is now compensating for all greenhouse gas emissions caused by in-house and outsourced printing services at Headquarters (HQ). To make our print publications ‘carbon neutral’, UNESCO has chosen to support the development of a small scale hydropower project near Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a UNESCO World Heritage site. While UNESCO is striving to reduce ...

International Day for Biological Diversity 2021 is being celebrated under the slogan: "We're part of the solution #ForNature". This theme was chosen to be a continuation of the momentum generated last year under the over-arching theme, “Our solutions are in nature”, which served as a reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges. From ...

This unique fund brings together public and private donors for a common goal: better protection of nature in order to safeguard some of the most important areas on earth, including natural World Heritage sites. The Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) aims to address one of the main bottlenecks for the conservation of globally significant protected areas located in the developing world: the lack of ...

World Heritage Young Professionals 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. As an integral part of the extended 44th ...

The theme for this World Migratory Bird Day is Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a bird! At the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, we support natural sites around the world in their conservation efforts, which in turn supports animals in maintaining their natural behaviors in healthy habitats. Bird song is not only enjoyable to listen to, but scientists and site managers can use it to evaluate the health ...

To celebrate the sixth edition of African World Heritage Day, on the 5th of May, UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) in collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) hosted a webinar under the African Union's (AU) theme for 2021: "Arts, culture and heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want". The Director of the WHC, Ms Mechtild Rössler, inaugurated the event with an ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to congratulate one of this year's Frankfurt Conservation Award (Bruno H. Schubert Prize) winners, the highest endowed private environmental prize in Germany - Julia Miranda Londoño, WCPA Deputy Chair and former Director of the Colombian National Parks Authority. All four winners of the Award have all contributed in their own way to keeping the ...

African World Heritage Day May 5th 2021  “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want”. Since the proclamation of African World Heritage Day in 2015 by the 38th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, every 5 May, African cultural and natural, tangible and intangible heritage is celebrated across the globe, raising awareness of the benefits of its ...

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has condemned the armed attack on an anti-poaching patrol that claimed three civilian lives, including those of Spanish journalists Roberto Fraile and David Beriain, in the Arly National Park – a UNESCO biosphere reserve and World Heritage site – in the east of Burkina Faso on 27 April.  “I condemn the murders of Spanish journalists David Beriain and ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre expresses its heartfelt sympathy after the fire that, on the morning of 18 April 2021, broke out on the edge of Cape Floral Regional Protected Areas (South Africa), a property inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004. UNESCO is in contact with the relevant national authorities who will assess the damage and impact of the fires which gutted the Jagger ...

The future of the world's ecological and human systems is deeply interconnected. Protecting nature means protecting people. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted local conservation budgets and shifted priorities across many marine World Heritage sites. The World Heritage Marine Programme's 2020-2021 Annual Overview provides insights about the challenges and successes across the ...

Earth Day is an annual event held on 22 April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on 22 April 1970, the history of the Day traces back to UNESCO. In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on 21 March 1970, the first day of spring in the northern ...

Call for participants: do you work with heritage places? ICCROM is seeking 20 participants to take part in an Asian regional course on Promoting People-Centred Approaches to Conservation of Nature and Culture. This online course is open to: Heritage practitioners from the cultural and natural heritage sectors and other individuals working at a specific heritage place. Individuals ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its sadness at the death of Prof Giorgio Croci, a structural engineer who made an indelible contribution to the support of several iconic World Heritage sites, including Angkor in Cambodia, the Colosseum in Rome and Ethiopia’s Axum Obelisk. Dr Croci studied civil engineering at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, and became a full ...