World Heritage

Category

UNESCO World Heritage: 42 new sites inscribed

The 45th session of the World Heritage Committee concluded on Monday 25 September and inscribed 42 new sites and approved the extension of 5 sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The Committee inscribed:  42 new sites, of which 33 are cultural sites and 9 are natural sites. These sites will now benefit from the highest level of heritage protection in the world. They will also have access to new opportunities for technical and financial assistance from UNESCO. These inscriptions bring...

Good news for World Heritage in Uganda

  Uganda’s Tombs of the Kings of Buganda at Kasubi to be removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger The World Heritage Committee, which is meeting in Riyadh until 25 September, has decided to remove the site of the Tombs of the Buganda Kings in Kasubi (Uganda) from the List of World Heritage in Danger, following the successful restoration work carried out by Uganda with UNESCO’s support. In 2010, a violent fire devastated the Tombs of the Kings...

World Art Day promotes creativity, innovation & diversity

  World Art Day, a celebration to promote the development, diffusion and enjoyment of art, was proclaimed at the 40th session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 2019. Art nurtures creativity, innovation and cultural diversity for all peoples across the globe and plays an important role in sharing knowledge and encouraging curiosity and dialogue. These are qualities that art has always had, and will always have if we continue to support environments where artists and artistic freedom are promoted and protected. In...

Great Barrier Reef good news & bad

Coral has recovered from storms and bleaching events to record levels across much of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a survey has found. The reef’s northern and central parts have the highest amount of coral cover since monitoring began 36 years ago. But coral cover in the southern part of the reef has decreased. The new coral is particularly vulnerable – meaning the progress could be quickly undone by climate change and other threats, officials say. Each year the Australian Institute...

Great Barrier Reef is amazing

What makes the ‘Great Barrier Reef” great?   “The Great Barrier Reef – a world heritage site- is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc. It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong (‘sea cow’) and the large green turtle, which are threatened with...

World Heritage: Artists links Sweden & Africa

Artist Imke Rust brings UNESCO World Heritage sites ‘Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes’ and ‘Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland’ closer ‘Worldresidency programme of one month at the World Heritage property ‘Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland’ (Sweden), was awarded to artist Imke Rust from Namibia/Germany. The call for applications was open for people from all over the world, including researchers, artists or other cultural actors and creators. Imke’s winning proposal explored the links between the World Heritage site in Sweden and the Namibian World Heritage...

UNESCO / World Heritage in the Pacific

UNESCO Workshop considers national and regional priorities for World Heritage in the Pacific “Suva, Fiji (19 November 2021) – UNESCO, in partnership with IUCN Oceania, recently completed a draft background report to inform the Pacific Regional World Heritage Action Plan 2021-2025. The report is based on consultation at national and regional levels, and the findings present the dynamic heritage profile of the Pacific region, including challenges, strengths and opportunities, and suggest national and regional priorities for action for World Heritage....

World heritage – building a stronger vision of UNESCO in Africa

  UNESCO is committed to strengthening the management of African World Heritage sites by building the capacity of African World Heritage site managers – as embodied by its newly-launched Flagship Programme on “Fostering Cultural Heritage and Capacity Development” in Africa. In line with this Flagship Programme, the Interim Committee of the African Site Managers Network met in Abomey (Benin) from 22 to 23 November 2021 as a first step towards the creation of a network of UNESCO World Heritage site...

World heritage sites & climate change

Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and among the greatest threats facing cultural and natural heritage today. One in three natural sites and one in six cultural heritage sites are currently threatened by climate change. ( from https://whc.unesco.org/en/review/100/ ) In recent months and years, we have seen cultural and natural heritage sites, including many World Heritage sites, threatened by wildfires, floods, storms and mass-bleaching events. We have also seen how climate change puts living heritage – oral...