At its cabinet meeting yesterday, the Belize government approved a policy that will legally ban offshore exploration in all seven areas that make up the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System World Heritage area. The decision will effectively exclude the entire World Heritage area from any future oil exploration and make the site consistent with the World Heritage Committee’s position that oil ...

In the framework of the project entitled “The Power of Culture: Supporting Community-Based Management and Sustainable Tourism at World Heritage Sites in Malaysia and Southeast Asia” made possible thanks to support from the Government of Malaysia via the Malaysia Funds-in-Trust (MFIT) under the Malaysia-UNESCO Cooperation Programme (MUCP), UNESCO is spearheading a new approach to sustainable ...

On 29 November 2015, Barbara Hendricks, Federal Environment Minister for Germany, met with Mechtild Rössler, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre at the occasion of COP21. Discussion focused on collaboration in the field of natural heritage through capacity-building workshops on Vilm Island, bilateral support for World Heritage projects, as well as key issues for cultural heritage ...

The Arctic stretches across the top of the planet, spanning 5.5 million square miles. Its icy waters are home to wildlife found nowhere else, including bowhead whales, narwhals, and walrus. The Arctic is also ground zero for climate change. Rising temperatures and melting sea ice are opening up new shipping routes and potential oil and gas developments. IUCN, International Union for the ...

On 26-27 November 2015, at a meeting held within the framework of a signed agreement between Brazil and UNESCO the first Board of Directors of the Regional Heritage Management Training Centre – Lucio Costa (CLC), a Category 2 Centre, was established under the auspices of UNESCO. Representatives from the Brazilian Government, the General Directorate of UNESCO, from the Portuguese-speaking ...

The Solomon Islands host a chain of coral atolls in the western Pacific, about 1800 kilometers northeast of Australia. The southernmost island in the group is Rennell Island. At 86 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, Rennell is the largest raised coral atoll in the world. East Rennell, on the southern end of Rennell Island, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998 for its role as ...

Beginning next week, world leaders are convening in Paris for the 21st Conference of Parties (also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference). Their goal: to achieve a universal agreement on climate, aimed at keeping global warming below two degrees centigrade. The Marine World Heritage Programme will be there to share climate change concerns from the 47 ocean places around the world that ...

On 24 November 2015, at the occasion of a visit to Viet Nam to attend the celebration of the 70th anniversary of UNESCO, Mechtild Rossler, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, visited Ha Long Bay World Heritage site. Accompanying her were Mr. Le Hoai Trung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of Viet Nam National Commission for UNESCO, and Mr. Pham Sanh Chau of the ...

On 19 November 2015, the 20th General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention adopted a Policy on the integration of a sustainable development perspective into the processes of the Convention. The overall goal of the policy is to assist States Parties, practitioners, institutions, communities and networks, through appropriate guidance, to harness the potential of ...

The World Heritage Centre, with the participation of ICOMOS, IUCN and ICCROM, organized a side event on Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) on the occasion of the 20th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention (UNESCO Headquarters, 18-20 November 2015). More than 80 representatives of States Parties to the ...

A reactive monitoring mission by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) to the assess the state of conservation of the “Tasmanian Wilderness” World Heritage site will take place from 23 to 29 November, at the invitation of Australia and in keeping with the request made by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session ...

The 20th General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention met from 18 to 20 November 2015 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, under the chairmanship of H.E. Mr Jose Filipe Mendes Moraes Cabral, Ambassador Extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Portugal to France, convening the 191 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention.  During the session, the States ...

On November 13, 2015, a guard of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) was the victim of an attack that cost him his life at the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was deployed to a post at Zunguluka, one of the entrances to the park, when he was targeted by a group of armed militiamen (Mai Mai). "I ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the Call for Participants for the Caribbean World Heritage Youth Project on Marine Biodiversity & Climate Change in Panama. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre in cooperation with Mar Viva Foundation will organise the Youth Project from 25 (arrival 24) to 29 (departure 30) January 2016 in Panama. We welcome the participation of all ...

The World Meteorological Organization is launching a series of climate change videos featuring TV weather presenters ahead of the COP21 climate conference (21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) to be held in France from 30 November to 11 December 2015. If humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, the ...

On 16 November 2015, the 38th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO adopted a resolution proclaiming May 5th as African World Heritage Day, in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of UNESCO’s decision to create the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) (2006-2016). This Resolution, in line with UNESCO’s Priority Africa programme, is aimed to increase international awareness of African ...

On 17 November 2015, the Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Mechtild Rössler and her team met with the Haitian Minister of Culture, Ms Dithny Joan RATON. Discussions focused on strengthening cooperation in the field of World Heritage, including projects at the Citadel (of the National History Park – Citadel, Sans Souci, Ramiers World Heritage site) and the need to revise the ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today condemned the attacks, unprecedented in the history of France, perpetrated in Paris on 13 November. Ms Bokova said, “On behalf of UNESCO and in my own name, I present my most heartfelt condolences to the people of France and to all the mourning families so terribly bereft by these barbaric acts. This crime affects us all. It represents an ...

On the occasion of the 38th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Stanley Mutumba Simataa, President of the 38th session of the General Conference, and His Excellency Mr. Jean-Marie Adoua, President of the African Group, hosted a side event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the creation of the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and ...

The Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre has met with the team from the European Bank for Reconstruction and exchanged views on heritage impact assessments related to World Heritage properties, especially for consultations on cultural heritage within ESIA processes. Participants from the EBRD included Debbie Cousins, Team Leader for Environmental and Sustainability; Elizabeth Smith, ...