The World Heritage Cities Programme is calling for case studies of Innovative Actions implementing the approach of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL Recommendation) , integrating heritage conservation with sustainable urban development, in World Heritage cities. The selected case studies will be presented during the World Heritage Cities Forum 2021, which ...

On 17 March 2021, the Director-General of UNESCO received, via the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea to UNESCO, a letter from Mr KIM Hyun-mo, Administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea, announcing the creation of a new Framework Agreement to support extra-budgetary projects related to World Heritage in the Asia and the Pacific region. UNESCO ...

The call for applications for the 3rd Edition of the Mediterranean Climate Change Adaptation Awards is now open until 15 April 2021. This call was launched by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean and UNEP MAP Plan Bleu, in the frame of the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement last 20th January. The award ceremony ...

Monitoring World Heritage site closures Introduction to the global map on the closure of World Heritage sites due to Covid-19 and analysis. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many governments have taken measures to restrict movements of people and access to certain areas. This includes the closure of natural and cultural World Heritage sites in the 167 countries they are located in. ...

The tragic destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in March 2001, which was broadcast across the globe, led to a global recognition of the need to protect cultural heritage at risk. The empty niches of the giant Buddhas in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan are a perpetual reminder of our duty to protect cultural heritage, and what future generations stand to lose if we do not. Today, these ...

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has provided UNESCO with 2 million euros to address some of the immediate socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on tourism and heritage. The project aims to support UNESCO’s efforts to accelerate the recovery, to protect livelihoods and to transform the sectors to become more inclusive and sustainable. Working in ...

Each year, International Women's Day is the occasion to celebrate the role of women and encourage gender equality in everything that we do.  Women play a crucial role in managing World Heritage sites. To mention just a few, there are Tania Zaven, site manager of Byblos, Christina Sinclair, site manager of Edinburgh, and Beverly Wade, national focal point for the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve ...

Today is World Wildlife Day with the theme: "Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet," as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forest and forest-adjacent areas. This aligns with ...

New guidelines developed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in cooperation with UNESCO outline how tourism and culture stakeholders can work together to support the inclusive recovery of cultural tourism, as countries around the world respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The publication, entitled UNWTO Inclusive Recovery Guide, Issue 2: Cultural Tourism, draws on the ...

Last week, UNESCO released the first global scientific assessment of its World Heritage marine sites’ blue carbon ecosystems, highlighting the critical environmental value of these habitats. While these sites represent less than 1% of the world’s ocean, they host at least 21% of the world’s blue carbon ecosystem area, and 15% of the world’s blue carbon assets.  Over the last decade, ...

The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention set forth the procedures for the protection and conservation of World Heritage properties, the inscription of properties on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, the granting of International Assistance under the World Heritage Fund, and the mobilization of national and international ...