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The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today announced that the Organization will send a mission of experts, from September 10 to 16, to assess the potential damage caused to cultural sites in the recent conflict in Lebanon. The mission will, among other things, visit UNESCO's World Heritage sites of Tyre, Baalbek and Byblos. Tyre and Baalbek, first built by the Phoenicians grew ...

The Decisions adopted at the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 8 to 16 July 2006, are now available online, in English and French.Decisions adopted at the 30 th session of the World Heritage Committee

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today launched an alert to protect heritage in the Middle East. The full text of the declaration follows: "The heritage site of Tyre is under threat."UNESCO has already launched two urgent appeals to the belligerents to ensure that the hostilities spare the site and its surroundings, which are part of the ancestral heritage of ...

The 2006 International Youth Volunteer Camp on the Restoration of Khami Ruins National Monument took place from 15 June to 8 July. The goal of the camp is to take remedial action and save crumbling World Heritage sites in their respective countries, and this year's camp was the seventh held since they began in 2000. UNESCO Harare Cluster Office Director and Representative Professor Juma ...

A new partnership to promote UNESCO World Heritage sites has been launched with the signing on 19 July of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO and the New Zealand-based company GSP Our Place-World Heritage (GSP OP-WH Ltd). Under the partnership, GSP OP-WH Ltd and its international network of professional photographers will produce a series of books, television programmes and a website ...

During the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Vilnius, Lithuania from 8-16 July, 18 new sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List. They include two natural sites and the extension of one natural site, which also became a transboundary property. Sixteen cultural sites were inscribed, one of them transboundary and three existing sites were extended. Improvements in the ...

The World Heritage Committee at its 30th session in Vilnius decided to place the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley on the List of World Heritage in Danger following plans by the municipality of Dresden to build a bridge over the Elbe River in the core zone of the property. The Committee determined that plans to build a bridge across the Elbe would have such a serious impact on the ...

Five sites newly inscribed into UNESCO's World Heritage List are highlighted in the July-August issue of the UNESCO Courier.Bisotun (Islamic Republic of Iran) Professor David Stronach, archeologist and former Director of the British Institute of Persian Studies in Tehran (1961-1980), looks back fondly on his experiences at Bisotun (Islamic Republic of Iran), a monument in bas-relief and ...

UNESCO and its long standing media partner EVERGREEN Digital Contents have launched a new partnership through a project aiming to promote World Heritage Education in Japan. The project focuses on raising the awareness of elementary school students about natural World Heritage sites and issues concerning them. As a part of this partnership, a new i-mode site was developed for NTT DoCoMo called ...

The 30th meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Vilnius, Lithuania has been discussing the state of conservation of natural and cultural World Heritage sites. On Monday evening, delegates had the opportunity to hear about a joint IUCN and UNESCO project which is not only helping improve conservation on the ground but providing a consistent information base for reporting on the management ...

The World Heritage Committee Thursday inscribed ten new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. A number of outstanding proposals for inscription are to be discussed in the afternoon. The new sites inscribed are:Sewell Mining Town (Chile). Situated 85 km south of the capital, Santiago in an environment marked by extreme climate more than 2,000 m up the Andes, Sewell Mining Town was built ...

The World Heritage Committee Thursday decided to extend the site inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004 as Dečani Monastery (Serbia) and place it on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee also extended Andorra‘s site of Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley (Andorra), adding a buffer zone to the property that was listed in 2004. These inscriptions end additions and changes ...

The World Heritage Committee Wednesday added eight new sites and one extension to UNESCO's World Heritage List and removed the archaeological site of Tipasa (Algeria) from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee will continue discussing new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List tomorrow. Below are the sites added to the World Heritage List Wednesday:Sichuan Giant ...

The World Heritage Committee decided Tuesday to place the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley on the List of World Heritage in Dangerwith a view to avert plans by the municipality of Dresden to build a bridge over the Elbe on the site. The Committee decided that plans to build a bridge across the Elbe would have such a serious impact on the integrity of property's landscape that it may ...

Improved conservation allowed the World Heritage Committee to remove Cologne Cathedral (Germany), Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal), the Group of Monuments at Hampi (India) and Ichkeul National Park (Tunisia), from the List of World Heritage in Danger on Monday. The debate on the List of World Heritage in Danger will continue tomorrow. The decision by the authorities of Cologne to ...

The 30th session of the World Heritage Committee, chaired by Ina Marčiulionytė, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Lithuania to UNESCO, started its work Sunday with an address by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, who highlighted the need for synergy between UNESCO's conventions on tangible heritage, intangible heritage, and diversity of cultural expressions. The ...

The World Heritage Committee on Monday adopted the recommendations on ways to respond to the threat of climate change to many World Heritage sites such as Mount Everest (Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal), Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Venice (Italy)."This is the start of a long process, which is important in that it helps draw attention to a far reaching issue," explained ...

Thirty-seven new sites will be proposed for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee scheduled for July 8-16 in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus; the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura; and Ina Marčiulionytė, Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee and Permanent Delegate of ...

On April 13, 2006, Mr. Breton, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry met with Mr. Doumba, Minister of Forest Economy, Water, Fisheries and National Parks, Mme Raonimarahy, UNESCO's representative in Gabon, and Mr. Séverino, Director General of the French Development Agency, at the presidential palace of Libreville to confirm France's commitment to the protection of ...

Having been identified as a cross-cutting theme for global biodiversity conservation initiatives at the Fifth World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa (2003) the World Heritage Convention, one of the five international conventions addressing biodiversity needs, serves as an instrumental action-orientated mechanism for the protection of the world's most valuable natural resources and ...