UNESCO is launching launch a call to constitute a roster of volunteer experts, prioritizing local and regional experts in the field of biodiversity and land restoration, environmental management and environmental law, as well as knowledge holders. Volunteer experts will provide technical advice, generate data, build partnerships and provide training so that local actors, particularly ...

The Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting (2018 – 2024), a global World Heritage conservation monitoring exercise carried out in six-year cycles, carries on this September with reporting in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.  World Heritage site managers and national focal points of the 147 World Heritage properties (101 cultural, 38 natural and 8 mixed sites) in the Latin America and ...

According to World Heritage in the face of COVID-19 (2021), World Heritage sites experienced a 66% drop in visitation and a 52% decline in ticket sales in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. In collaboration with the Advisory Bodies to the 1972 World Heritage Committee in the framework of the UNESCO Task Force on Culture, Tourism and COVID-19, UNESCO is now working on gathering more in-depth data ...

The International Advisory Committee (IAC) on World Heritage Sites in Uzbekistan was officially opened in Khiva and online on 15 September 2021, within the framework of the International Cultural Forum “Central Asia at the Crossroads of World Civilizations”. The initiative to establish this committee together with UNESCO was put forward by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan H.E. Mr. ...

In the framework of the international assistance "Establishment of the Tentative List of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea", the World Heritage Centre, in collaboration with ICOMOS and IUCN, organized this Friday 10 September 2021 an online workshop for the elaboration of the Tentative List of Equatorial Guinea. This first session brought together a national team of cultural and natural ...

Recruitment of a Scientific Coordinator. The increasing impact of disasters in Africa and their growing complexity is a great concern for both heritage professionals and decision makers. It is expected that in the next decade, climate change will lead to more frequent extreme weather events, reaching to broader areas. Cultural heritage in all of its forms is also increasingly at risk due to ...

Ms Darwina L Neal, left, with Dr Mechtild Rössler and others at Oakland Plantation during a US/ICOMOS symposium on landscapes held in Natchitoches, Louisiana, USA in March 2004 .© ICOMOS/IFLA Cultural Landscape Scientific Commiittee Landscape architect and conservationist Ms Darwina L. Neal, one of North America’s most renowned experts in cultural landscape conservation, passed away on 4 ...

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 new commitment was announced by Eddie Rich, CEO of the International Hydropower Association (IHA) during a workshop on “No-Go in World Heritage and other protected areas: success stories in leveraging the private sector and remaining challenges” at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France. The commitment stipulates that no new hydropower projects should be developed in ...

TheIUCN World Conservation Congress, taking place in Marseille, France and online from 3 to 11 September 2021, will drive action on nature-based recovery, climate change and biodiversity through events, exhibits and forums.  The IUCN World Conservation Congress comes just months before CBD will be adopting the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, setting the international biodiversity ...

The new guidelines published by UNESCO and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) put forward a standard methodology for evaluating the impact of protected areas on the local economy. The guidelines aim to help national stakeholders, protected area managers and researchers count visitation and measure economic impacts consistently through a standardized approach. Developed ...

Amid the rapidly unfolding events, and twenty years after the deliberate destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, a World Heritage site, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay “calls for the preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage in its diversity, in full respect of international law, and for taking all necessary precautions to spare and protect cultural heritage from damage and ...

The W-Arly-Pendjari Complex (WAP) is a transnational property (about 450 km border) shared by the Republic of Niger, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Benin in West Africa. The Niger part of the property was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996. It will be extended in 2017 to its Benin and Burkina Faso parts. The site is also a transboundary biosphere reserve. In addition to pressures ...

At its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016), the World Heritage Committee highlighted that the List of World Heritage in Danger needed to be better understood and therefore decided that this issue be formally addressed in order to overcome the negative perception of this component of the Reactive Monitoring process (Decision 40 COM 7). As presented to the World Heritage Committee at its ...

Today is International Youth Day, when we focus on the future guardinas of our irreplaceable UNESCO World Heritage.  If heritage is what we leave behind for future generations, we need to work with young people to protect it. This International Youth Day, we wish to highlight the Young Professionals Forum which took place during the extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee.  In ...

UNESCO and its World Heritage Centre have observed with concern the large number of fires that have struck Greece and other countries in Southern Europeand the Mediterranean in recent weeks. According to information provided by experts and press reports, firefighters continue to battle major fires in Greece, including one that could impact the World Heritage site “Archaeological Site of ...

In the Lakota language of North America, the word “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ” means “all is related” or “all my relatives” – both human and non-human. In Hawaiian, the phrase “ike loa” means “to see much” and describes a philosophy of lifelong learning to better understand our relationship with the world. And in the nearly extinct Nǀuu language of South Africa, the word “lgqe” refers to the life-force ...

UNESCO wishes to express its deep concern about the reports on the expansion of the conflict to the city of Lalibela (Ethiopia), which hosts the Rock-Hewn Churches. UNESCO calls for the respect of all relevant obligations under international law in ensuring the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value and legacy of this precious site by refraining from any act that may expose it to ...

UNESCO Addis Ababa Liaison Office in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre (WHC) and financial support from the People’s Republic of China, organized a Training workshop on “enhancing the implementation capacity of the 1972 World Heritage Convention ” which took place from 3 to 5 August 2021, in Adama Town, Ethiopia. The meeting brought together 43 participants from ministries and ...

In parallel to the extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC), in close collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), organised an online side event, “Looking into the future: Highlights of the Regional Action Plan for Africa (2021 – 2027)” on 30 July. The event reflected upon the objectives and challenges foreseen in the ...