Natural World Heritage 

Nature’s most precious gifts
to humanity

Natural World Heritage sites contain some of the Earth's most valuable natural assets recognized as being of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). There are 257 natural sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including 218 natural sites and 39 mixed (both cultural and natural) sites, representing over 95% and 20% of the List in terms of surface and number of sites, respectively. These sites are under the highest level of recognition afforded globally for the protection and conservation of around 3,500,000 km2 (more than the size of India) across more than 95 countries.

Natural sites provide crucial habitats to many iconic species and harbour unique natural beauty, stunning landscapes, rare ecological processes, and exceptional biodiversity. They include many iconic places such as the Serengeti National Park, Galápagos Islands, Yellowstone National Park and the Great Barrier Reef, and are often a last refuge for species threatened with extinction, such as the mountain gorilla, giant panda and orangutan. Two-thirds of natural sites are crucial sources of water, and about half help prevent natural disasters such as floods or landslides. They also have a central role in climate regulation and carbon sequestration as forests found in sites across the tropical regions store an estimated 5.7 billion tons of carbon – higher forest biomass carbon density on average than the remaining protected area network. Marine sites are also critical to mitigating climate impacts as blue carbon ecosystems.

Millions of people are directly dependent on the countless products and services that these sites can provide as over 90% of listed natural sites create jobs and provide income from tourism and recreation.

Natural sites account for around 8% of the total surface covered by all 245,000+ terrestrial and marine protected areas worldwide covering 1% of Earth’s land surface and 0.6% of world’s oceans. There has been considerable progress in expanding the coverage of both terrestrial and marine World Heritage sites, with terrestrial coverage increasing by 1.3 times, and marine coverage increasing faster by 3.5 times since 2000.

Evolution of natural/mixed, terrestrial and marine World Heritage sites coverage in terms of area (ha)

In spite of its rich heritage resources, the Africa region remains poorly represented on the World Heritage List as less than 10% of all World Heritage properties are located in this region. To date the World Heritage List already includes many of the most important and significant natural sites of the African continent, which is exceptionally rich in biodiversity. However, Africa remains the region with the highest percentage of sites whose conservation outlook is assessed as critical, and is the region with the highest number of natural sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger (11 out of 16).

A threatened paradise

Natural World Heritage sites account for around 8% of the total surface area covered by all 245,000+ terrestrial and marine protected areas worldwide. Yet they are under increasing pressure. According to IUCN, the official advisory body on nature under the World Heritage Convention, climate change (over 80 sites), invasive species (around 70 sites) and the negative impacts of tourism (close to 50 sites) are currently the three most significant threats. Other major threats include poaching and planned infrastructure such as roads, dams, mining and oil and gas projects.

Climate change is however the fastest growing threat to natural World Heritage, with the number of sites highly threatened by climate change almost doubling in the last decade. Coral reefs and glaciers are among the most affected ecosystems. Other ecosystems, such as wetlands, low-lying deltas, permafrost and fire sensitive ecosystems are also affected.

World Heritage-listed coral reefs, such as the Great Barrier Reef (the most extensive coral reef ecosystem on Earth), the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean (the world's second-largest coral atoll) and the Belize Barrier Reef in the Atlantic (the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere) have been affected by devastating mass coral bleaching events over the past decades. A first global scientific assessment of the impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage coral reefs revealed that nearly half (13) of the 29 World Heritage Listed reef properties were exposed to levels of heat stress that cause coral bleaching, on average, more than twice per decade during the 1985 - 2013 period, and nearly three quarters (21) have been exposed to severe and/or repeated heat stress since 2014.

Almost half of the 46 natural World Heritage sites where glaciers are currently found are also highly threatened by rising temperatures and could see their glaciers disappear by 2100. These include several iconic landscapes such as Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina (containing some of the largest glaciers on Earth), Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand (which contains three quarters of New Zealand’s glaciers), Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro National Park (home to Africa’s highest peak), and the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch (home to the largest Alpine glacier).

Pressure on natural sites from planned infrastructure is also increasing. Roads, dams, tourism facilities, mining and oil and gas projects are among the top potential threats. A third of animals are vanishing as roads spread through forests. It is projected that 25 million km of new paved roads will be developed globally by 2050 (enough to encircle the planet more than 600 times), and about 90 per cent will be in tropical forests. Bangladesh's The Sundarbans, a vast mangrove forest home to the royal Bengal tiger, could be severely altered by impacts of coal-fired power plants proposed near the site. The proposed Stiegler’s Gorge dam could cause irreversible damage to important habitats in Tanzania's Selous Game Reserve, home to the Critically Endangered black rhinoceros. Finally, lack of funding is threatening the effectiveness of the protection and management of natural World Heritage.

Our Mission: Bringing together nations to protect exceptional nature

The World Heritage Convention brings together almost all countries of the world around a common objective of conserving the most exceptional natural and cultural sites. But the Convention is not only addressing governments, it also brings together local communities and indigenous people, private sector and many other stakeholders.

The mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre is the pursuit of long-term conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development through the fullest and broadest application of the World Heritage Convention by all relevant stakeholders, from site level individuals to global organizations. Among one of the key tasks of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre is the monitoring of the state of conservation of sites. This includes providing technical assistance, and building capacity in the States Parties through a series of projects on the ground that enable bringing together governments, local communities and indigenous people, private sector and many other stakeholders.

Particular attention is given to the preservation of natural World Heritage sites in Africa. The conservation, sustainable exploitation and management of forest sites in Central Africa, and in particular in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon and the Central African Republic, have since 2004 benefited from the activities of the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative (CAWHFI), which aims to strengthen the management of protected areas while improving their integration within the region's various ecological landscapes. Substantial funding is also provided to support emergency activities for Manovo - Gounda St. Floris National Park (Central African Republic), a site on the List of World Heritage in Danger that has been severely impacted by poaching and civil conflicts. Further support is earmarked for elephant and giraffe monitoring in Garamba National Park and mitigating conflict and protecting rightful access to natural resources in the Okapi Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other projects include addressing urgent conservation issues in the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal) and Lake Malawi National Park (Malawi).

Marine World Heritage sites often get a lot of public attention and they are at the leading edge of the marine conservation programmes in many countries. Launched in 2005, the mission of the World Heritage Marine Programme is to establish effective conservation of existing and potential marine areas of Outstanding Universal Value to make sure they will be maintained and thrive for generations to come. The programme has four focus areas to fulfil its mission: monitoring sites’ conservation status, building a global managers network, improving sustainable conservation and exploring World Heritage in the High Seas.

Engaging local communities and the private sector are key to secure broader and longer-term support in the management and sustainable development of a property. In this regard, the Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation (COMPACT) initiative was launched in 2000 and activities have been implemented in iconic sites such as the Okavango Delta (Botswana) and the Maloti-Drakensberg Park (Lesotho/South Africa). The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has had a very positive experience in developing partnerships with the private sector over the past few years, and has brokered agreements for World Heritage sites as “no-go” areas for mining and oil extraction.

Last but not least, in view of filling existing biodiversity gaps in the World Heritage List, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre provides technical support to States Parties in the preparation of nomination dossiers. Such support has led to inscription of several important natural sites in the Africa region, including the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Namib Sand Sea in Namibia and Sangha Trinational, a transboundary site in Cameroon, Central African Republic and Congo.