The work at the World Heritage Marine Programme would not be possible without the help of its partners and donors. This month, the Marine Programme welcomes a new partnership with the French Agency for Marine Protected Areas.  France’s support will scale up our peer-to-peer learning platforms for managers and grow our on-the-ground capacity for marine conservation around the world.

World Heritage sets global standards for good management of the world’s most unique and exceptional places. A core task of the World Heritage Marine Programme and its advisory bodies is to help countries take conservation actions that will ensure their marine sites’ management is commensurate their iconic World Heritage status. This can only be achieved when local site managers have the expertise, resources, and support needed to steward their sites, and strategic partnerships and alliances that facilitate shared learning.

The same is true at the global level. Conservation of the heritage of humankind is a responsibility of us all and cannot be done without the help of our partners. This is why the World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the new partnership with the French Agency for Marine Protected Areas (Agence des aires marines protégées, or AAMP) for the preservation of marine sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

AAMP’s mission is to support public policy related to protection of the marine environment. It was a core organizer of the third International Marine Protected Area Congress, or IMPAC3 in Marseille, France, October 2013 and has also supported the exchange of management solutions and best practices among marine World Heritage site managers at the second tri-annual managers conference in Scandola, France the same year.

Christophe Lefebvre, AAMP Head of European and International Affairs stated

« Depuis le  dernier  congrès mondial des aires marines protégées (IMPAC3) qui s’est tenu en 2013 à Marseille et qui était organisé avec l’UICN, l’AAMP s’est engagé à contribuer à développer au niveau international tous les outils de protection du milieu marin, notamment dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre des objectifs marins de la convention sur la diversité biologique. La nouvelle coopération avec le Centre du Patrimoine Mondial qui a pour but de renforcer la protection des sites marins du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO s’inscrit dans la déclaration d’Ajaccio, lancé en Octobre 2013 et qui définit les grandes lignes sur la conservation de la mer du gouvernement français dans les années à venir. »

This new partnership will add to World Heritage Marine Programme’s capacity to support the application of the 1972 World Heritage Convention to ocean areas of Outstanding Universal Value, and is the continuation of a fruitful relationship with AAMP that dates back to 2010.