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This lush, photo-driven guide introduces 50 of the most magnificently biodiverse places around the world, revealing not only their physical beauty but also celebrating the flora and fauna that make them unique. Did you know that Kakadu National Park in Australia boasts some of the oldest exposed rock on the planet and is known to have been inhabited continuously for over 40,000 years? That ...

From 5 to 9 October 2023, managers from the 50 marine sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List gathered to discuss critical challenges and solutions in protecting ocean biodiversity of outstanding universal value to humanity. The conference’s objective was to accelerate conservation successes by sharing what works and what doesn’t, and to avoid costly mistakes that can be prevented when ...

Sub-Saharan Africa only represents less than 10% of the sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This figure highlights our shared responsibility to make more room to the rich heritage of this region. The 45th session of the World Heritage Committee resulted in undeniable progress in addressing this challenge. The list of World Heritage sites does not yet fully embody its ...

On 26 September 2023, global marine protected area (MPA) practitioners met online with global experts, who shared firsthand insights about how blue carbon credits work, what incites businesses to invest, what a high-quality blue carbon project looks like, and how to assess viability as a sustainable financing stream in support of marine conservation. Marine World Heritage sites, and MPAs ...

The 45th session of the World Heritage Committee concluded on Monday 25 September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This year, the Committee inscribed 42 new sites and approved the extension of 5 sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. At the end of its fortnight's work, the Committee inscribed 42 new sites, of which 33 are cultural sites and 9 are natural sites. These sites will now benefit from the ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Riyadh until 25 September, decided today to inscribe the sites of "The Saint Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings and Lavra of Kyiv-Pechersk" and "L’viv – the ensemble of the historic centre" on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to the threat of destruction the Russian offensive poses. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee considers ...

Today the World Heritage Committee, which is meeting in Riyadh until 25 September, decided to remove the site of the Tombs of the Buganda Kings in Kasubi (Uganda) from the List of World Heritage in Danger, following the successful restoration work carried out by Uganda with UNESCO’s support. In 2010, a violent fire devastated the Tombs of the Kings of Buganda at Kasubi which are inscribed on ...

The extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee begins in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we express our gratitude to our hosts for convening the first in-person Committee since the onset of COVID-19. Surrounded by old friends and young professionals alike, we are reminded that this meeting is more than the sum of important decisions taken. It is a powerful platform where we rekindle ...

The extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee opens this Monday in Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Fifty sites will be examined for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Press conference On Monday 11 September at 1.30pm (local time UTC+3), UNESCO and the Saudi authorities will hold a press conference to present the work ahead of the Committee. Registration is compulsory ...

The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the World Heritage Centre and Geo4Map with the generous support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, can now be ordered from the World Heritage Centre website. The featured image on the map presents the Ḥimā Cultural Area World Heritage property in Saudi Arabia, country hosting the next session of the World Heritage Committee in September ...

UNESCO has learned with great sadness and expresses its deep regret at the loss of Jim Thorsell, who passed away in his native country Canada. Thorsell started his career as a park ranger in Banff National Park, then worked as a researcher, trainer and project manager, first in Canada and then in international conservation projects, including as a lecturer at the African Ranger Training ...

A UNESCO and IUCN assessment of the status of species reveals that UNESCO World Heritage sites harbour over 20% of mapped global species richness within just 1% of the Earth’s surface. Safeguarding these biodiversity hotspots is essential if the Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is to be achieved. UNESCO is appealing to the 195 States Parties to the Convention to scale up ...

In line with UNESCO's Global Priorities for Africa and Gender Equality, UNESCO developed a Mentorship Programme to train young African experts on World Heritage. In close partnership with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and the Advisory Bodies (ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN), 50 women experts will be trained to further support African Members States to implement the World Heritage Convention ...

From 26 to 30 July 2023, UNESCO organized an intensive training course for more than 20 cultural heritage professionals from eight regions of Ukraine, including the cities of Odesa, Kyiv and L’viv, threatened by increasingly frequent attacks. With the support of Japan, the in-person training aimed to strengthen the knowledge and expertise of Ukrainian heritage professionals in disaster risk ...

On 24 July 2023, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in partnership with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and ICCROM, held an online workshop dedicated to “Re-discovering African urban heritage through the lenses of the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape” (HUL). Thanks to the generous support of the Government of Norway, the workshops recorded the participation of over 100 ...

Last July, students joined an environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling campaign in the ocean areas bordering the pebble beaches of the Península Valdés World Heritage site, as part of the global eDNA expeditions that UNESCO is currently piloting across 25 marine World Heritage sites to better understand ocean biodiversity and the effects of climate change. Water samples were collected from 5 ...

On 22 June 2023, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre organized a Learning & exchange workshop on ‘Post COVID-19 World Heritage Site Management: Integration of Conservation, Tourism and Local Livelihood Strategies at World Heritage Sites,’ a project funded by the government of Japan through the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust. (c) Dr Ang Ming Chee. Extract from the PowerPoint Presentation ...

Living Heritage: Revitalising Stone Town of Zanzibar Socioeconomic Development On 25 July 2023, UNESCO organized a launch event for the project, Living Heritage: Revitalising Stone Town of Zanzibar Socioeconomic Development. Honorable Simai Mohammed Said, Minister of Tourism and Heritage in the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar graced the event. The launch was participated by government ...

UNESCO is deeply dismayed and condemns in the strongest terms the brazen attack carried out by the Russian forces, which hit several cultural sites in the city center of Odesa, home to the World Heritage property ‘The Historic Centre of Odesa’. The attack took the lives of at least two people, according to preliminary reports, and damaged a number of significant cultural sites, including the ...

The 4th Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO-designated sites and Sustainable Development held on 29-30 June in Huangshan, China by the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO, adopted the Huangshan Vision calling for tech-enhanced heritage protection cooperation. The Huangshan Vision emphasizes the potential role of space, ...