The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today called on all parties involved in the conflict in Syria to safeguard the country’s cultural heritage and take all possible measures to avoid further destruction. The Director-General’s appeal followed a meeting of experts held at the Organization’s Headquarters today to examine  an action plan aimed at preventing ...

The World Heritage Centre has learnt with deep sadness of the recent passing away of Professor Walter Santagata, a long-time collaborator of UNESCO and the creator, among many other scientific programmes, of the Turin Category 2 centre for training and research on the economics of World Heritage (ITRECH, 2011). The establishment of this institution, aimed at exploring the economic dimension ...

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site on Tuesday welcomed its 10 millionth visitor since achieving the rare distinction of being designated a World Heritage site. Visitor N° 10,000,000 was Michelle Miller of Waterloo, Ill. She was accompanied by her mother, Lorraine Novak; daughter Gabrielle Miller; and her daughter’s friend Keira Schmitz. Miller received a personal tour of the site ...

On 10 November 2011 UNESCO’s General Conference adopted the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, six years after the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention adopted Resolution 15GA/7 (in October 2005) that called for the elaboration of a new international standard-setting instrument that would be based on the recognition and guidance of investment in and ...

The Val de Loire World Heritage cultural landscape (France) is organizing a one-day workshop on Economy, Heritage and Landscape, to be held 12th  December 2013 in Tours. The workshop will focus mainly on policies and politics, and assessing the economic, environmental and cultural current and future returns on investments in the economic, landscape and heritage spheres. Discussions ...

New report on lessons learned to engage local communities in the Conservation of World Heritage sites launched during the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee The role of local communities in ensuring that World Heritage contributes to sustainable development was chosen by the World Heritage Committee as the central theme for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Convention ...

The Africa Nature risk preparedness workshop took place from the 20th-25th May 2013 at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Organized by African World Heritage Fund with the support of the Government of South Africa, this workshop aimed at English-speaking African countries. It gathered 14 site managers from natural World Heritage Sites in Ethiopia, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, ...