News

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 ...

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 ...

May 31, 1945 - May 5, 2018. Architect Augusto F. Villalon, one of Asia’s most renowned experts in heritage conservation, recently passed away in Manila, Philippines. During his long career, Arch. Augusto F. Villalon made an outstanding contribution to heritage conservation and to the World Heritage Convention in particular. A former President of ICOMOS Philippines, he was practically a lone ...

The World Heritage Centre has learned with great sadness of the recent passing  of Wayne Lotter, courageous defender of natural heritage and wildlife, who was attacked by a gunman in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) on 16 August 2017.  The Director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Dr. Mechtild Rössler, presents her sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the renowned elephant ...

The World Heritage Centre expresses its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sylvio Mutal, who passed away on 18 February 2017. Mr Mutal had a full and rich career spanning more than 40 years as a Practitioner and Executive Manager of the International Development Cooperation. After an education in Istanbul (Turkey), London (UK), Leiden (Holland) and Santiago de Chile ...

The Director of the World Heritage Center deplores the attacks on conservation guards and conservation staff working in World Heritage sites. This week was marked by the deaths of two guards, Bruce Danny Ngongo, in Lobéké National Park (Cameroon), and Patrick Prince Muhayirwa, in the Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo). These two rangers were killed in the course of ...

The World Heritage Centre has learned with great sadness of the recent passing of Larry Hamilton, a pioneer in nature conservation whose impact touched all the corners of the globe. Larry was an exceptional educator, advisor, and pioneer of courses in forest ecology, watershed studies, interdisciplinary collaboration, and international resource issues at Cornell University’s Department of ...

The World Heritage Centre has learned with great sadness of the recent passing of Luc Hoffmann, a pioneer in nature conservation whose impact touched all the corners of the globe. An ornithologist, conservationist and philanthropist, Mr Hoffmann co-founded the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and helped establish the Ramsar Convention for the protection of Wetlands. He set up the Tour du Valat ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, expressed sadness and anger after the latest violent attack of 23rd April at Garamba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The attack left three dead and two wounded among the guards of the Park. "I condemn this attack and killing of the guards at Garamba National Park. Once again I commend the courage of the guards who risk their lives to ...

On 12 and 13 March, four checkpoints in the central sector of the Virunga National Park World Heritage site located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC), were attacked by rebel groups during a series of violent clashes. The RDC Armed Forces came to the rescue of the guards of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) to restore security to the area. Two ICCN guards were ...

Paris, 16 February, 2016 - UNESCO Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova, expressed her deep sadness at the passing today of Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, the first Secretary-General of La Francophonie. “Boutros Boutros-Ghali devoted his life to promoting the ideals of a more just, peaceful and equitable world, the importance of democratizing ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has learnt with deep sadness of the recent passing of Mayor Jean-Paul L’Allier, founder and dedicated supporter of the Organization of World Heritage Cities. In 1991, as Mayor of Quebec City, Mr L’Allier brought together the Mayors of 41 World Heritage Cities from around the globe to lay the foundations for the creation of the Organization of World Heritage ...

The Syrian cultural heritage community suffered two immense blows within one week with the murder of archaeologist Khaled Assad in Palmyra and the killing of the Assistant Director of laboratories at the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums Qasem Abdullah Yehiya. “I am both saddened and outraged to learn of the brutal murder of Khaled Asaad, who oversaw antiquities at the UNESCO ...

The World Heritage Centre and the History and Memory for Dialogue Section of UNESCO have learned with deep sadness of the recent passing of Professor Chahryar Adle, a long-time collaborator of UNESCO. Chahryar Adle (1943-2015) was an archaeologist and Iranologist, and a member of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). He was also President of the International Scientific ...

The World Heritage Centre announces with profound sadness the passing on 28 April 2015 of Dr Ronald Van Oers, Vice Director of the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for Asia and the Pacific Region, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre based in Shanghai, and a colleague of the World Heritage Centre since 2000. Ron was a brilliant professional in the field of heritage. He had a wealth of ...

The World Heritage Centre expresses its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Professor Karel Bakker from the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria (South Africa), and a long-time collaborator on World Heritage, who passed away on 19 November 2014. Prof. Bakker contributed to numerous World Heritage missions, Heritage Impact Assessments, training workshops, ...

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today paid tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday night, 5 December. “Nelson Mandela was truly a giant among men,” Irina Bokova said. “He not only changed South Africa’s history, he changed the world and made it a better place. He taught us all a lesson on the power of peace and  reconciliation;  the importance of ...

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 ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, paid tribute to the great Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, who died on Wednesday, 5 December, at the age of 104. "Oscar Niemeyer helped define the 20th century and lay the foundations for the 21st -- for all this, he deserves the title of universal artist. As a founder of modern architecture, he gave the cities he loved iconic buildings, ...

It was with great sadness that the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, learned of the passing of Russell E. Train, former President of the World Wildlife Fund, who died on 17 September at the age of 92. Russell E. Train was a renowned US conservationist who played a central role in creating groundbreaking laws in response to rising concerns about environmental protection in America and ...