News

The following is a message from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered on 6 August 2018, at the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on 6 August 1945. It was inscribed on the World Heritage ...

On 1 August 2018, the World Heritage Centre received a petition signed by more than 2,400 citizens who expressed their concerns about deforestation at Lake Baikal World Heritage site (Russian Federation). The competent authorities of the State Party as well as the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Body IUCN are informed of the concerns raised by the campaign. The state of conservation ...

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has issued the statement below following news of the death of French architect and heritage conservation expert Pierre-André Lablaude: “Pierre-André Lablaude leaves behind him an immense body of work, including a remarkable contribution to the safeguarding and restoration of UNESCO's World Heritage, for which I wish to express our Organization’s ...

In the part years, interest in rural areas, small settlements, and the fine-tuned interaction between humankind and its natural environment, has exponentially grown in China and all around the world.The critical role played by villages, small towns, and their vast surrounding environment is gaining global acknowledgment as a complementary counterpart to growing cities. However, today these ...

Over the last several weeks, the World Heritage Centre has received numerous messages from citizens expressing their concerns regarding a car park project within the World Heritage property “Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar”, and the adverse impact it may have on the serial property. The concerned area is located within the ...

The World Heritage Centre has launched an Online Consultation with key World Heritage stakeholders on the Reactive Monitoring process. The consultation, which is taking place until 14 September 2018, will gather feedback and comments from key World Heritage stakeholders on this crucial process of the World Heritage Convention. This inclusive online consultation invites States Parties to ...

The 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development with the theme "Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies" was held at the UN New York from 9 to 18 July 2018. During the Forum, the Secretariats of the biodiversity-related conventions met at an event called the The Living Planet – the foundation of sustainable development: Contribution of the ...

A side event dedicated to the ‘Making of’ the draft Policy Compendium was held during the 42nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Manama, Bahrain (24 June – 4 July 2018). During the event, a panel composed of experts from the Policy Compendium Working Group and representatives of the World Heritage Centre presented their work to date on the draft Policy Compendium. The presentation ...

The Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) and ICOMOS International in collaboration with ICCROM and IUCN, are organizing a Capacity Building programme for World Heritage Professionals in the Arab Region. This programme aims to build a strong network of experts from the Arab Region that will assist the Arab States, the Advisory Bodies, and all World Heritage stakeholders in the ...

The 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 30 June to 10 July 2019, further to the kind invitation of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On 3 July 2018, during its 42nd session in Manama, Bahrain, the Committee elected H.E. Mr. Abulfaz Garayev, Azerbaijani Minister of Culture as the new Chair of the Committee, with Brazil, Burkina Faso, ...

The managers of the French properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and their institutional partners met on 30, 31 May and 1 June last in the Mining Basin for their 16th Annual Meeting, following an invitation by the Mining Basin Mission. Over 100 people were present to attend the General Assembly of the association, to participate in the afternoon debate devoted to the various ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre was saddened to learn of the death of Dr Janice Lindsay, Principal Director, Culture and Creative Industries Policy Division in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport (MCGES) in Jamaica. Dr Lindsay was a Cultural Heritage Development Specialist focusing on the economic development of tangible and intangible heritage assets. She was also ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama since 24 June under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, ended today. The next session of the World Heritage Committee will be in Baku, Azerbaijan. During the session, the Committee inscribed 19 sites on the World Heritage List (13 cultural sites, three natural and three mixed sites, i.e. both natural and cultural). It ...

UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative partner with WWF and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to launch global insurance industry commitment to protect World Heritage sites UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI)—the largest collaborative initiative between the United Nations and the insurance industry—in partnership with WWF and the UN ...

The 14th episode of the Patrimonito cartoon series on the theme of World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism is now available. The episode takes place at the natural World Heritage site of the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon, which is one of the largest in Africa and is especially known for being home to many animal and plant species. Several of them are globally threatened today such as the ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama since 24 June under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, today inscribed one mixed, i.e. cultural and natural, site in Mexico, and three natural sites in China, France and South Africa. The Committee also approved the extension of a World Heritage site in the Russian Federation. The examination of nominations will ...

The ‘Revive the Spirit of Mosul’ Initiative was presented on 30 June 2018 during the 42nd session of the World Heritage Committee. Launched by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay in February 2018, the Mosul Initiative is conceived in partnership with the Iraqi Government to integrate the human dimension in the reconstruction and recovery of the city, particularly through culture and ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama since 24 June under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, inscribed two cultural sites in Italy and Spain, on the World Heritage List this morning. The inscription of sites will continue this afternoon. The new World Heritage sites, in order of inscription, are: Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century (Italy) – The ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama since 24 June under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, inscribed two cultural sites in Germany and Turkey as well as two mixed (i.e. both cultural and natural) sites in Canada and Colombia, on the World Heritage List this afternoon. The inscription of sites will continue on 2 July. The new World Heritage sites, in ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama since 24 June under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, inscribed four cultural sites on the World Heritage List this morning. The inscription of sites will continue through 1 July. The new World Heritage sites, in order of inscription, are: Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai (India) – Having become a ...