Most people know Bamiyan as the site where giant statutes of the Buddha were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.  But it is the location of other important archaeological sites too, such as Shahr-i-Zohak (Red City), an impressive mass of ruins that was once the fortress protecting the entrance to Bamiyan in the 12th and 13th centuries.  Now this site will be restored and conserved as part of a ...

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is hosting a World Heritage Fellow, Mr. Anoop K.R., Director of Keoladeo National Park in India and Deputy Conservator of Forests in the Bharatpur District of Rajasthan.  As a recognized World Heritage site, the Park is participating in this fellowship program which allows professionals from other heritage sites a unique opportunity to temporarily ...

The Nordic World Heritage Fund (NWHF) and the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research in the Asia and the Pacific Region (WHITR-AP), have signed a cooperation agreement as an extension of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2009. Ms Anne-Kristin Endresen, Director of NWHF, and Mr Jian Zhou, Director of WHITR-AP, represented their organizations. NWHF and WHITR-AP are centres that ...

Following certain media announcements reporting on the cancellation of the UNESCO Mission to the Old City of Jerusalem, Director-General Irina Bokova wishes to underscore that contrary to such information, consultations are being pursued by the Government of Israel, and the Palestinian and Jordanian authorities with a view to finalizing the terms of the mission and determining its date.

On the 3rd of May, the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) received a request for emergency support in confronting a surge of rosewood poaching in Dong Phayayen Kao Yai Forest Complex World Heritage site.  The petitioners/advocates explained that poaching was becoming more organized and had for the first time turned deadly.  On March 14th, 33 year-old Thaweesak Chomyong, a park ranger, ...

World Heritage Education Programme is pleased to announce the release  of "Patrimonito’s World Heritage Adventures" cartoon series. The mentioned episodes are dedicated to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. Episode 10thLebanon (Sustainable Development for the Site of Ouaid Qadisha and the Forest of the Cedars of ...

On 30 April 2013, UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) renewed their Memorandum of Understanding at the Organization’s Headquarters. The agreement has been concluded in the framework of the thematic initiative “Astronomy and World Heritage”, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The purpose of the initiative is to reinforce the links between science and ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has expressed deep concern over the rise of armed violence, poaching and destruction in the Dzanga-Sanga National Park, in Central African Republic. The site is part of Sangha Trinational, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2012 and located in the north-western Congo Basin, at the meeting point between Cameroon, Congo and the ...

Demonstrating an excellent example of cooperation between managers and staff of two of the globe’s most iconic World Heritage volcano sites, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in the USA and New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park worked together to assess risk to visitors in what can be inherently dangerous places. At the request of the Conservator, Tongariro Whanganui Taranaki ...