Tourism is increasingly a major source of growth, employment and income for many of the world’s countries, particularly in emerging economies. However, when mismanaged, overwhelming numbers of visitors can damage ancient monuments and put intangible heritage at risk. World Tourism Day is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of protecting World Heritage and ensuring that tourism makes ...

For the first time, on 18-19 September 2018, members of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions (BLG) met with the Culture Conventions Liaison Group (CCLG) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The occasion was the 13th meeting of the BLG, held to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation to fight against accelerating global biodiversity loss, especially in view of the ...

Today, on 24 September 2018, a group of experts from the World Heritage Centre and IUCN arrived in Warsaw to carry out a joint Reactive Monitoring mission to the transboundary World Heritage property “Białowieża Forest” (Belarus/Poland). Situated on the watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas, the World Heritage property is the site of an immense and biologically diverse primeval forest that ...

The Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting (2018 – 2024), a global World Heritage conservation monitoring exercise carried out in six-year cycles, begins this September with reporting in the Arab States region. World Heritage Site Managers and National Focal Points of the 84 World Heritage properties (76 cultural, 5 natural and 3 mixed sites in 18 State Parties) in the Arab States region will be ...

This guidebook for urban and architectural regulation of Cidade Velha (Cabo Verde) was produced within the framework of an international assistance for the elaboration of an ‘Illustrated guidebook of the urban rules of Cidade Velha’. Its objective is to make the urban legislation of the city of Cidade Velha, inscribed on the World Heritage List since 2009, more accessible and understandable ...

Today, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre released an update to its 2017 first global scientific assessment of the impact of climate change on UNESCO World Heritage coral reefs. The latest update concludes that limiting global temperatures to 1.5°C degrees above pre-industrial levels would mean World Heritage-listed coral reefs are expected to avoid severe annual bleaching this century. ...

Coinciding with the European Heritage Days celebrations, UNESCO will launch the first-ever web platform dedicated to World Heritage and sustainable travel. Supported by the European Union, the platform features 34 selected World Heritage sites spread across 19 European Union countries, and it has been developed in collaboration with National Geographic. The launch will take place when UNESCO ...

It is with deep sorrow that we learned of the passing of Dr Henry Forrester Cleere, in London on 23 August 2018. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre staff would like to express our heartfelt condolences to Henry’s family. Dr Henry Cleere was born in London on 2 August 1926. After completing a Masters degree in English, Henry Cleere worked for over 20 years in the iron and steel industry before ...

On 30 and 31 August 2018, the 70th anniversary of IUCN was celebrated at Fontainebleau, France with the theme “The Future of Landscapes: A New Relationship for People and Nature”. It is at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, a World Heritage site, that in 1948 the founding assembly convened at the invitation of UNESCO to create the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN), later to ...