News

The National Monuments Service World Heritage Scholarship programme has been established in support of the newly proposed National Strategy for World Heritage. A goal of the Strategy is to advocate for World Heritage nationally and internationally and a principle means of doing this is through education and capacity building initiatives. To this end, Ireland's National Monuments Service is ...

In April and May 2024, UNESCO and its partners organised a webinar series aimed to raise awareness of the site management authorities on the impacts of the avian influenza outbreak on wildlife in UNESCO World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves and Ramsar sites. The webinars were attended by nearly 700 people and financially supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Environment ...

Oaxaca, Mexico.― On 17-18 June, 2024, UNESCO organized the first workshop for the project ‘Latin America and the Caribbean: Strengthening Capacities for Resilient Communities through Sustainable Tourism and Heritage Safeguarding’, an initiative supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The workshop brought together site managers from Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, ...

Discover the World Heritage Volunteers Initiative and join the 2024 campaign! © UNESCO When the World Heritage Volunteers Initiative was launched jointly with the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service in 2008, 12 projects involving 153 volunteers were selected. Since then, more than 10,000 volunteers have taken part in over 600 action camps in more than 80 countries ...

Gathered in Vilnius on Friday, at the initiative of Lithuania, nearly 30 States pledged to increase their support to the recovery of Ukraine’s cultural sector, through the coordination of UNESCO. A medium and long-term plan of action, drawn up by the Organization in consultation with over 40 international and Ukrainian institutions, will be implemented. There can be no healing of the ...

The African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) has launched a call for the Moses Mapesa Research Grant to support African Doctoral and Masters Students in the field of natural and cultural heritage. This research grant seeks to further research (particularly supporting fieldwork) on World Heritage and tentative listed sites in Africa.EligibilityThe call is open to students who are:a) Currently or ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the selected projects of the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) 2024 Campaign, under the theme of ‘World Heritage Volunteers 2024 - Working on the Future’. 90 action camp projects will be implemented from April to December 2024 at 85 World Heritage properties and sites on the Tentative Lists, by 69 organizations in 41 countries around the ...

On 8 - 9 May 2024, UNESCO, in partnership with the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, through the financial support from the Governments of Japan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Fund for Culture at UNESCO, successfully launched the Majestic Cinema Rehabilitation Project during a two-day event in Stone Town of Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania. In collaboration with HIFADHI ...

On 22 May 2024, managers from the 29 UNESCO World Heritage-listed coral reefs came together online with experts from the United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to share experiences in monitoring the effects of the fourth mass bleaching event that is currently unfolding around the globe. The world is now experiencing its fourth global coral bleaching event, as ...

With large ocean spaces and customary land tenures, UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Pacific region link culture and nature with people and communities through their unique values and management systems. However, Pacific Island countries are underrepresented on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is not due to the lack of globally significant natural and cultural heritage places but to ...

It is with deep sadness that UNESCO has learned of Professor Dawson Munjeri's death. He passed away at his home in Helensvale, Harare, on 29 April 2024. Professor Munjeri was an eminent scholar and ardent defender of the World Heritage of Africa and beyond. Professor Dawson Munjeri was a towering figure in the realm of heritage preservation, a guiding light of cultural stewardship in ...

The mentees currently benefitting from the UNESCO Mentorship Programme for African Heritage professionals participated in a field mission as part of a workshop co-organized on 12 and 13 February 2024 by the UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar and ICCROM. This workshop aimed to support the regional and national focal points of West Africa with their Periodic Reporting, in particular to evaluate ...

Every year, on 5 May, we celebrate African World Heritage Day to honour the natural wonders and cultural legacies of Africa. From Mbanza Kongo, capital of the former Kingdom of Kongo in Angola, to the fortress of Fasil Ghebbi in the Gondar Region of Ethiopia, cultural sites across Africa bear witness to the continent’s multifaceted history, like vibrant strands woven into the tapestry of ...

This year, 2024, the World Heritage Residence Scholarship goes to German artist Paul Wiersbinski, Berlin, for his project entitled "The Perfect House". The project will connect together the World Heritage sites Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland and the German Berlin Modernism Housing Estates by artistically interweaving urban Berlin with rural Hälsingland. The project was inspired by the ...

Experts from East Africa gathered in Nairobi for a workshop to discuss current challenges posed at the World Heritage sites in danger in Kenya, Madagascar, and Tanzania. Africa, despite its rich and diverse cultural and natural heritage, remains the second least represented region on the World Heritage List. The continent hosts the highest number of endangered properties, with 14 out of the ...

In harmony with the African Union's theme of the year for 2024, “Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century,” the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) invites African States Parties (particularly heritage professionals and institutions, civil society organisations, local communities and the youth) to participate in the celebration of the nineth edition of this international day under the ...

At its extended 45th session in September 2023 in Riyadh, the World Heritage Committee, in its Decision 45COM 7A.4, adopted the desired state of conservation for the removal of the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR). During the same session, the World Heritage Centre, in collaboration with IUCN, organized a brainstorming meeting with ...

The “My Heritage” short-film competition is back. The Arab Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) and the Heritage Commission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair for World Heritage management and Sustainable Tourism in the Arab Region, is pleased to announce to invite you to participate in the third edition of the short-film competition “My Heritage.” In this ...

Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981 under criterion (x) referring to its unique biodiversity and exceptional ecosystems, the Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal) has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2007, due to various disturbances to its biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as the emergence of development projects. It is in this context that UNESCO is ...

Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981, and placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger twice, from 1984 to 1988 and from 2000 to 2006, the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal) has benefitted from UNESCO's support since 2021 as part of the “Protection measures against the impacts of agricultural and agro-industrial projects in the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary” ...