Support for the establishment of an on-line State of Conservation Information System (SOC) database on the state of conservation reports for World Heritage Properties

With the support of the Flemish Government, and later within the framework of the France-UNESCO Cooperation Agreement, the World Heritage Centre launched an online Information System on the state of conservation (SOC) of World Heritage properties and the factors affecting their Outstanding Universal Value in order to valorise this priceless documentation and make it publicly accessible to all stakeholders of the 1972 World Heritage Convention and any interested parties.

This public consultation tool includes an advanced search form per property, per region, per State Party, per year, per type of threat, etc., in order to extract specific data from the state of conservation reports concerning World Heritage properties. The SOC reports facilitate informed decision making and offer unique access to all available statutory documentation on World Heritage properties, and provide access to the last 40 years’ worth of conservation reports. It is aimed at States Parties, property managers, natural and cultural heritage professionals, researchers, etc.

This online tool allows the visualization of the evolution of the state of conservation of a property over time and the conduct of comprehensive analyses of the threats to identify potential trends over time, thus helping States Parties to improve mitigation measures on World Heritage properties.

As one of the most comprehensive monitoring systems on-line, the Online Information System is also unique in that it is one of the few to offer information in both French and English. This tool allows to capitalise on acquired data collected or produced by the World heritage Centre.