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 heritage experts in the premises of the UNESCO antenna in Malabo, and international experts from ICOMOS and IUCN who participated online. It addressed themes related to the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in general, and the elaboration of Tentative Lists in particular, as well as their application in the Equato-Guinean context. Several cultural, natural or mixed sites were mentioned as potentially suitable for inclusion in the State Party's Tentative List, including the Neo-Gothic Church of Batete, the Monte Alene National Park and the Caldera de Luba Scientific Reserve.

A second session of the workshop is scheduled for 28 September 2021, to discuss the results of the national team's work on the format of the Tentative List and to establish a roadmap summarizing the steps necessary to prepare experts for the development of future solid nominations.

This activity is an important first step towards the effective implementation of the World Heritage Convention in Equatorial Guinea, ratified by the State Party in 2010. Equatorial Guinea will also be one of the countries that will benefit from the Japanese Government funded programme to support ten countries from the Africa region to develop nomination dossiers so as to enhance the representativity of Africa on the World Heritage List, as part of UNESCO priority Africa.

Team of national experts © UNESCO CLT/WHC/AFR