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New excavations within the Maya Devi Temple of Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal, have revealed evidence of a series of shrines extending the history of the site to a much earlier date than previously known. Until now, the earliest Buddhist temples have been attributed to Emperor Ashoka, who in the 3rd century BC spread Buddhism across the region, as evidenced by ...

The inscriptions of the 1000th site and Myanmar’s first property on the World Heritage List, were among the highlights of the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee, which ended today in Doha (Qatar). During its ten-day meeting, the Committee added a total of 26 new sites the List to bring the number of World Heritage Sites to 1007, in 161 countries. The ...

Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (Germany) is receiving applications for the Master’s programme in World Heritage Studies.   CONCEPT The international Master’s programme World Heritage Studies was developed around the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Its curriculum reflects ...

The value of rebuilding Timbuktu, a unique intellectual and spiritual capital rich in cultural treasures, is priceless for both Mali’s post-conflict recovery and for its significance for global patrimony. However $8 million is still required for the actual restoration costs, according to Lazare Eloudou Assomo, UNESCO Representative to Mali and global expert on the iconic ...

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and French President Francois Hollande today sent a strong message of solidarity to the people of Iraq and Syria, and reiterated the urgent need to safeguard cultural heritage of both countries. President Hollande and the Director-General Bokova met at the Louvre Museum in Paris, which houses several major works reflecting the splendid ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, and the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Jurgen Stock, addressed members of the UN Security Council on “Combating the Destruction, Smuggling and Theft of Cultural Heritage” in countries where destruction of heritage, looting and illicit trafficking are used to fuel hatred and finance terrorism. The meeting, convened by the ...

The 199th session of UNESCO Executive Board unanimously adopted a decision regarding UNESCO’s role in “safeguarding and preservation Palmyra and other Syrian world heritage sites”, decision supported by the Russian Federation, South Africa, Germany, Belarus, Brazil, China, the United States, France, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Palau, Great ...

Climate change is fast becoming one of the most significant risks for World Heritage sites, according to the report “World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate” released today by UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). “Globally, we need to better understand, monitor and address climate change threats to ...

Experts from nearly 40 countries, including 12 outside the Africa region, gathered in Arusha (Tanzania) for the international conference "Safeguarding African World Heritage as a Driver of Sustainable Development" co-organized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the United Republic of Tanzania and the People's Republic of China, from 31 May to 3 June 2016. In his opening ...

Post Title: Cultural Heritage Specialist Organisation: Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) Location: Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain Closing Date: 18 April, 2017 Applications: All interested applicants should submit their CV to info@arcwh.org Background of ARC-WH:The Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage was established as a Category 2 Centre under the auspices ...

For decades, UNESCO has worked to protect cultural and natural treasures on land and sea by facilitating cooperation across borders. World Heritage is built on the premise that some places are so special that all of humankind should work together to protect them. This spirit of international cooperation has been evident among World Heritage marine sites in the Eastern ...

In keeping with UNESCO’s mandate to promote culture and education in Africa, the World Heritage Centre, in close collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund and the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare, organized a regional workshop entitled “World Heritage and Education Institutions in Africa” at the Great Zimbabwe, Masvingo (Zimbabwe) from 26 to 28 ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama since 24 June under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, ended today. The next session of the World Heritage Committee will be in Baku, Azerbaijan. During the session, the Committee inscribed 19 sites on the World Heritage List (13 cultural sites, three natural and three mixed sites, i.e. both natural ...

The World Heritage Centre, in close collaboration with the UNESCO Multisectoral and Regional Office in Dakar and the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), organized a workshop entitled "World Heritage and Institutions of Higher Learning in Africa" from 6 to 8 November 2018 at the University Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis (Senegal), with the support of the Senegalese Ministry ...

The three countries agree on a roadmap to explore the boundary extension of the Okavango Delta World Heritage site to protect the river basin and the unique wetland system. The States Parties of Angola, Botswana and Namibia met in Maun in Botswana on 3-4 June 2019 to discuss transboundary cooperation and ways to improve conservation of the Okavango Delta (Botswana) World ...

Recent flooding threatens the World Heritage property of the Historic Town of Grand-Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire. UNESCO is sending a mission to provide technical assistance to national and local authorities in assessing the damage and collecting all the data necessary for the preparation of a risk management plan that better takes account of the flood issue. On the weekend of 11 ...

International Day for Biological Diversity 2021 is being celebrated under the slogan: "We're part of the solution #ForNature". This theme was chosen to be a continuation of the momentum generated last year under the over-arching theme, “Our solutions are in nature”, which served as a reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development ...

The International Advisory Committee (IAC) on World Heritage Sites in Uzbekistan was officially opened in Khiva and online on 15 September 2021, within the framework of the International Cultural Forum “Central Asia at the Crossroads of World Civilizations”. The initiative to establish this committee together with UNESCO was put forward by the President of the Republic of ...

With the support of UNESCO, UNDP, the Government of Botswana and local partners, projects to support conservation and sustainable livelihoods of communities have started in the Okavango Delta World Heritage site. The activities, which are planned and led by local civil society organisations, are supported through the Community Management for Protected Areas for ...

On 9 May 2022, UNESCO organized an online meeting to discuss the removal of African properties from the List of World Heritage in Danger. Despite the richness and diversity of Africa’s cultural and natural heritage, the Sub-Saharan African region is one of the least represented regions  on the World Heritage List, but still registers the highest number of endangered ...