News

The World Heritage Centre expresses its concern over on-going bushfires in and around the Gondwana rainforests in Australia and offers its solidarity to the people affected. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has been receiving many expressions of concern from the media and civil society over the possible impact of bushfires on the World Heritage property, “Gondwana Rainforests of Australia”, ...

UNESCO offers its sincere solidarity with the people of Japan, and in particular the residents of Okinawa, who have lost a cultural and historical symbol of the Ryukyu islands. UNESCO stands ready to assist the authorities as needed. In the early morning hours of 31 October, a number of buildings, including Shuri Castle of  the World Heritage site of “Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of ...

“Our hearts are broken”Audrey Azoulay “We are filled with emotion and our hearts are broken,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay as she witnessed the devastating fire tear through the historic cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris this evening. The cathedral is part of the 1991 World Heritage inscription, Paris, Banks of the Seine, which also includes bridges, quays and the banks of the ...

For more than a week, devastating fires have raged in Mount Kenya National Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 and a part of the Mount Kenya Biosphere Reserve since 1978. According to the Kenya National Parks Service (KWS), these fires have already destroyed more than 80,000 hectares of forest and grassland, which represents almost half the area of the World Heritage site. ...