UNESCO pays tribute to Jim Thorsell (1940-2023)
UNESCO has learned with great sadness and expresses its deep regret at the loss of Jim Thorsell, who passed away in his native country Canada.
Thorsell started his career as a park ranger in Banff National Park, then worked as a researcher, trainer and project manager, first in Canada and then in international conservation projects, including as a lecturer at the African Ranger Training School in Mweka in Tanzania for a number of years. His involvement with World Heritage began when he joined the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Head of the Protected Areas Programme in 1983. He later headed the World Heritage Programme for 15 years. In this capacity, he evaluated the nominations of many natural sites inscribed today on the World Heritage List.
I would like to pay tribute to the memory of Jim Thorsell and to the immense contribution he made to the safeguarding and conservation of our shared natural heritage – notably through his pioneering systematic approaches to monitoring and evaluation processes of newly nominated natural World Heritage sites,
Thorsell was dedicated to ensuring the integrity of natural World Heritage sites with courage and good humour, including at many meetings of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. He will be remembered as an extremely knowledgeable natural heritage expert who will continue to inspire us through his legacy for conservation and unwavering commitment to World Heritage.
While we commemorate his life and work and remember the way he touched each of us, we mourn alongside our IUCN colleagues and our thoughts and condolences also go to his family and friends at this difficult time.