Through a solid foundation of its seven cultural conventions, UNESCO promotes the pivotal role of culture, heritage, and creativity as a means of achieving sustainable development and peace.

In Bangladesh, UNESCO - in line with its global action - is engaged in conserving, promoting and transmitting heritage and history for dialogue and development and ensuring the safeguarding and management of cultural and natural heritage; through the implementation of one of its key cultural conventions, the 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Culture and Natural Heritage which Bangladesh ratified in 1993.

As of 2014, 1007 sites are inscribed as World Heritage, amongst them 779 cultural, 197 natural, and 31 mixed properties, in 161 states parties. Bangladesh has two cultural and one natural site inscribed as World Heritage.