World Heritage Matters

Liverpool's world heritage waterfront faces 'irreversible damage', report says

2012-01-25T08:51:00.001-05:00

Liverpool's world heritage site waterfront will be "irreversibly damaged" unless urgent modifications are made to a multibillion-pound skyscraper scheme, a delegation from Unesco has warned.
The delegation said the skyscraper proposal would result in "a serious loss of historic authenticity".

The Unesco inspectors praised the "more or less symmetrical profile" of the city's waterfront, with the Three Graces – the Port of Liverpool and the Liver and Cunard buildings – at centre stage and historical docklands to the north complementing those to the south.

The Graces were "at the heart of the shipping and harbour operations during the height of [Liverpool's] glory, surrounded by dockyards and port structures", they said.

But they warned that if the £5.5bn Peel Holdings development, including tall buildings such as the Shanghai Tower, went ahead, this profile would be shifted to the north by introducing a secondary cluster of high-rises, with towers three times the size of the Three Graces.

They would "[relegate] the Three Graces to playing second violin", the inspectors found, "thereby losing an important visual and historical reference to the city's glorious past".

The Unesco report said the views of the Three Graces from Kings Dock would disappear amid the supertowers.

Read more, here.

UNESCO nod on altering Selous boundaries not before June

2012-01-18T08:43:00.001-05:00

Proposed alteration of Selous Game Reserve boundaries to pave way for a tricky uranium mining project in Namtumbo district, Ruvuma region faces uncertainty as no international clearance could be granted until June this year at the earliest.

The clearance on the boundaries change is supposed to be acquired from the World Heritage Centre, a body under the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Selous is listed on Unesco’s world heritage sites.

Ezekiel Maige, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, told The Guardian on Sunday this week that the government would be waiting for a decision from WHC after its June meeting, in which case no conclusion can be made before mid-year.

“World heritage centre meets once a year and during the 2011 meeting we submitted the proposals which the body has to look into before reaching a decision,” noted the minister.
He stated: “Through its advisory body the committee sent its team last October which looked into various matters including the Environment Impact Assessment. They visited the site and met the national Atomic Energy Commission, therefore the findings and report by this team would be key in reaching decisions.”

To read more, click here.

What Does Unesco Recognition Mean, Exactly?

2012-01-10T07:12:00.001-05:00

WORLD HERITAGE is big business, bringing hordes of tourists to poor countries that can use the jobs and the cash. It can also overwhelm the very sites it is designed to protect with all the less-savory aspects of mass travel, from chain hotels and restaurants to the impact of thousands of sport-shoed feet treading on fragile ground.

But World Heritage can also be an odd business, giving recognition to traditions (like premodern tribal dances and giant French family meals) that might have little aesthetic value to any group except the one that practices it.

Read more, here.

Park Service seeks comments on Yellowstone World Heritage progress report

2012-01-05T15:08:00.001-05:00

CODY, Wyo. — The National Park Service has made available a draft progress report on addressing threats to Yellowstone National Park that will be submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Public comments on the draft will be included with the final report that is submitted to UNESCO.

Yellowstone was among the initial properties designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1978. The U.N. managing committee placed Yellowstone on its list of endangered sites in 1995 and removed it in 2003.

The current report will be the sixth submitted by the Park Service detailing efforts to overcome the threats to park resources that initiated Yellowstone’s 1995 endangered listing.
The areas of concern addressed in the report cover many of the major issues that are familiar to those who track park management. They include:

efforts to secure bison migration routes to public and private property north of the park.
fundraising to pay for lake trout suppression efforts over the next six years.

work to increase park grizzly bear connectivity with bears throughout the greater yellowstone area and to consider the need to further mitigate human-bear conflicts.
consideration of how state management of gray wolves may impact the wolf population within the park.

development of a sustainability program to reduce the impacts of visitation and park operations.

continuing assessment of winter visitation and the effects from snowmobiles.
The treaty that established U.N. World Heritage Sites was adopted in 1972 and became effective in 1975. It grew out of efforts led by the U.S. a decade earlier to protect ancient Egyptian monuments along the Nile River from being lost to rising waters from proposed dams and reservoirs.

The treaty that established U.N. World Heritage Sites was adopted in 1972 and became effective in 1975. It grew out of efforts led by the U.S. a decade earlier to protect ancient Egyptian monuments along the Nile River from being lost to rising waters from proposed dams and reservoirs.

There are 936 sites listed, more than 700 of which are cultural properties like the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the ancient city of Petra in Jordan.
Natural sites include the Galápagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and Grand Canyon National Park.

Each of the 187 nations that have ratified the U.N. World Heritage Site treaty voluntarily nominates its own sites featuring outstanding natural or cultural values. Member nations retain complete sovereignty over each site and over the operation of locations added to the list.
Public comments on the draft report may be submitted through Jan. 20 at the National Park Service web site.

Confrontation brews as U.N. World Heritage pact turns 40

2012-01-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the United Nations international treaty on World Heritage, which has contributed much to protecting natural and cultural heritages from development, natural disasters or armed conflicts. However, the treaty now faces a key turning point amid confrontations between some developing and developed countries.
The treaty, formally called the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, was adopted at UNESCO's general meeting in Paris in November 1972 and took effect in 1975.

Backed by the United States, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization made efforts in the 1960s to protect the Nubian monuments along the Nile River — remains of the ancient Egyptian civilization — from being submerged in water due to the construction of dams and reservoirs. UNESCO's efforts led to the World Heritage treaty.

In 1978, 12 sites were inscribed on the World Heritage list for the first time. Among them were Yellowstone National Park of the United States and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. The following year, 45 more sites, such as the pyramids of Egypt, were added to the list.
The number of World Heritage sites inscribed on the list stands at 936, comprising 725 cultural, 183 natural and 28 mixed properties.

The World Heritage convention is said to be the most successful international treaty in the sense that the number states signing it has increased to 187 — out of the 193 U.N. member states.
Japan was slow to ratify the pact, doing so in 1992, as it took time for the country to establish domestic legislation aimed at protecting natural and cultural assets. The following year, the nature-rich Yakushima Island off Kyushu, the Shirakami Mountain Range in northeastern Japan, the Horyuji Temple in the ancient capital of Nara, and Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture were placed on the list.

There are 16 sites from Japan on the list: 12 cultural and four natural. Most recently, in 2011, the Ogasawara Islands and the Buddhist temples, gardens and archaeological sites of Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, were added to the list.

Countries that hope to register their sites on the list are required to certify that those sites are of remarkable and universal value. UNESCO strictly checks if the sites and their environments have been fully protected.

After their sites are inscribed on the list, countries can receive financial and technical support from the international community, and can expect a boost in tourism to the sites.
Confrontation between some developing and developed countries is deepening, however. Developing countries hope to add more sites to the list, while some developed countries want to curb new entries to ensure the list's overall quality.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee convenes a regular session every summer to examine requests from countries to place their sites on the list. In recent years, the committee has often decided to inscribe sites of some developing countries that experts of UNESCO advisory bodies have not highly evaluated. It seems to be the wish of developing countries to increase the number of their sites on the list.

The World Heritage Committee, which consists of representatives of 21 countries, decides whether to inscribe the sites on the list after UNESCO advisers and experts make on-the-spot inspections of the sites and file their opinions with the committee.

Read the rest of the article, here.

Unesco concern at Tower of London and Westminster buildings

2011-12-06T10:57:00.001-05:00

A team visiting the Unesco World Heritage sites the Tower of London, the Palace of Westminster and the Abbey is concerned about their "visual setting".

A World Heritage Committee official said there were no "buffer zones" between the sites and 20 ongoing or new developments to protect the views.

If the team decides the sites are threatened, it could place them on the UN's Heritage in Danger list.

The government said it could not afford to see the iconic monuments downgraded.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said if the sites - which include St Margaret's Church in the Westminster group - appeared to be heading for the Heritage in Danger List when the committee met in June 2012, it would bring "bad publicity" ahead of the Olympics.

There are 28 World Heritage Sites in the UK.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Palestinians hope for US reserve over UNESCO funds

2011-11-29T08:41:00.001-05:00

LONDON (AP) — The Palestinian foreign minister said Wednesday he hopes the United States can be persuaded to reverse its decision to cut funds to UNESCO now that the U.N. agency has voted to give the Palestinians membership.

Riad Malki told The Associated Press in an interview that several countries are lobbying the U.S. over the withdrawal of the funds and that talks are planned between U.S. officials and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

Following the Oct. 31 vote that made Palestine a member of the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, two U.S. laws kicked in that halted the flow of funds to the agency, forcing it to scale back literacy and development programs it carries out in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and the new nation of South Sudan.

The United States contributes $80 million annually in dues — 22 percent of UNESCO's overall budget — and its 2011 contribution was not yet in when the laws took effect, immediately throwing UNESCO into crisis.

Read more, here.

Cash-strapped French wine town forced to sell off monuments

2011-11-16T14:25:00.002-05:00

SAINT EMILION, France (AFP) ― Residents of Saint Emilion, a hugely popular UNESCO World Heritage site in southwest France, were shocked when their mayor sold a medieval monument to pay off debts.

And while the council has defended the controversial sale as a means of raising much-needed cash for the upkeep of historic sites, it has undertaken to rethink the strategy and find alternative means of funding in future.

“Saint Emilion has a very rich medieval heritage but that leaves them with a lot to do and they don’t have the resources,” was how Francois Gondran, the state architect responsible for Bordeaux and Saint Emilion, explained the sale of the 14th century Cordeliers cloister, home to a sparking wine producer.

“What are expensive to maintain are the ramparts, 80 percent of which date from the Middle Ages. They are very expensive to restore and difficult to access. It involves a lot of man-hours.”

Click here for the rest of the article.

UNESCO World Heritage Guide App free for one day

2011-11-15T14:35:00.001-05:00

The UNESCO General Conference adopted the World Heritage Convention on 16 November 1972. In the 40 years since then, 936 sites have been inscribed on the World Heritage List and 188 countries have committed to preserving this heritage for future generations.

To launch the celebration year, UNESCO is happy to make the following offer:UNESCO World Heritage Guide App free for one day

What can you do with the app?

Use the UNESCO World Heritage app to explore all the World Heritage sites at home or while on your travels, choosing your favourites and marking them off as you visit them.
The app is published by HarperCollins Publishers and developed by Aimer Media in partnership with UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

Why Wikipedia Is as Important as the Pyramids

2011-11-15T07:28:00.001-05:00

On July 31, 2007, an old Japanese silver mine known as Iwami Ginzan was declared by Unesco to have “outstanding universal value” and added to the World Heritage List alongside Stonehenge and the Pyramids. Local Japanese were bewildered. Abandoned in 1923, the site now consists of little more than a hole in the ground.

Fast-forward four years. At the Wikimedia Conference in March, a German coalition proposed that Wikipedia become the first digital World Heritage site. A petition was drafted, declaring Wikipedia “a masterpiece of human creative genius.” Unesco was not impressed. A spokeswoman suggested that Wikipedia apply for something called the Memory of the World Register.

Never heard of that before? Recent inductees and applicants include the Stockholm City Planning Committee Archives, the Benz patent of 1886, and Autochthonous Ethnic Music of the Caucasus on CD-ROM.

Read the rest of the article, here.

Unesco Accepts Palestinians as Full Members

2011-11-01T08:11:00.001-04:00

PARIS — Palestine became the 195th full member of Unesco on Monday, as the United Nations organization defied a mandated cutoff of American funds under federal legislation from the 1990s. The vote of Unesco’s full membership was 107 to 14, with 52 abstentions.

Read the whole article, here.

Beyonce Knowles and the Looming Crisis at the UN

2011-10-21T12:10:00.001-04:00

UNESCO member states are poised to admit Palestine as the newest member of the UN body. This is an achievement for the Palestinian leadership, which is seeking admission to various UN agencies, but potentially catastrophic news for UNESCO and American leadership at the UN. And through no fault of her own, even Beyonce may suffer.

At issue here are two strict laws passed by the United States congress in 1994 which stipulate that “the United States shall not make any voluntary or assessed contribution to any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.” And if that were not clear enough, a second clause clearly states that the United States may not “provide funds [to] the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.” The law authorizes no “waiver authority” by the executive branch, meaning that there is no way for President Obama to end run around this prohibition.

Read more, here.

Video: The Dying Trees of France’s Canal du Midi

2011-10-21T06:53:00.002-04:00

Click here to watch a short video about the 42,000 plane trees lining France’s historic Canal du Midi that are being felled because of a fungus brought to Europe by US soldiers in World War II.

Skyscraper threatens Seville's world heritage status

2011-10-12T15:09:00.001-04:00

SEVILLE, Spain — Seville is famed for its imposing cathedral and whitewashed streets but the Spanish city may lose its UN World Heritage status because of a new 41-storey skyscraper.
The 178-metre (584-foot) high, oval-shaped building, still under construction, will house the offices of savings bank Cajasol when completed in 2012.

It was designed by Argentine-American architect Cesar Pelli, who is responsible for some of the world's tallest buildings, including the Petronas Towers which dominate the skyline of Kuala Lumpur.

Pelli's office boasts the new skyscraper "will define the skyline of Seville."
But that is a prospect that dismays the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which since July has called in vain for work on the project to be stopped.

It is planning a visit to the city together with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to "determine if the skyscraper has a visual impact on the historic centre of Seville, said UNESCO spokeswoman Lucia Kuntz.

ICOMOS, which works to protect cultural heritage sites around the world, advises the UN body on World Heritage sites, which include cultural landmarks such as the Great Wall of China and the leaning Tower of Pisa.

The building already rises up eight stories into the sky just several hundred metres -- and on the other side of the Guadalquivir river -- from the historic centre of Seville.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Palestinians to push heritage agenda at UNESCO

2011-10-12T09:02:00.002-04:00

(Reuters) - The Palestinians will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus once the U.N. cultural agency admits them as a full member, and will then nominate other sites on Israeli-occupied land for the same standing, an official said.

Hamdan Taha, a Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and culture, said UNESCO membership was the Palestinians' natural right. He described as "regrettable" the objections of some governments including the United States.
UNESCO's board decided last week to let member states vote on a Palestinian application for full membership, seen as part of a Palestinian drive opposed by Israel and the United States for recognition as a state in the U.N. system.
"UNESCO membership carries a message of justice and rights. Why must the Palestinians be left outside the international system?" Taha said. "I see it as crowning long efforts over the past 20 years."

Read the rest of the article, here.

Sarkozy says no to shale gas drilling in beauty spot

2011-10-05T14:57:00.001-04:00

"I want to take the opportunity I have here to confirm that there will no exploitation of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing in this exceptional area," Sarkozy said during a visit to the Gard, home to Cevennes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Read the whole article, here.

Japan asks UNESCO to list Mt. Fuji, Kamakura as World Heritage sites

2011-10-04T09:14:00.001-04:00

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese government on Wednesday submitted to UNESCO a provisional letter of recommendation for it to register Mt. Fuji and the ancient city of Kamakura as World Heritage cultural sites in 2013, government officials said.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

World Heritage team to visit Yellowstone

2011-09-15T08:25:00.001-04:00

BILLINGS, Mont. — International observers plan to visit Yellowstone National Park next week to gauge how the world's first national park is addressing challenges that range from diseased bison to insect devastation of forests.

Read more, here.

UNESCO prepares for LNG reef mission

2011-08-31T07:34:00.001-04:00

United Nations experts will visit Queensland later this year amid concerns the booming liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry could threaten the Great Barrier Reef.

The UN's environmental arm, UNESCO, has rebuked the Australian government for failing to tell it about approvals for LNG projects inside the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area.

The failure was a breach of World Heritage guidelines. To read the rest of the article, click here.

Grand Canyon National Park hosts U.S. World Heritage Fellow

2011-08-23T11:25:00.004-04:00

Washington, DC – Mr. John Zulu, site manager of Zambia’s Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls National Park and World Heritage Site arrived in the U.S. August 5th to spend six weeks immersed in the details of people, park and resource management at Grand Canyon National Park as the latest "U.S. World Heritage Fellow" sponsored by the National Park Service with support from the United Nations Foundation and the National Park Foundation.

Mr. Zulu works for the National Heritage Conservation Commission as the site manager for Victoria Falls National Park, Zambia’s only World Heritage Site. Located on the Zambezi River, the falls sit astride the Zambia-Zimbabwe border and are designated a joint transboundary World Heritage Site.

John is the sixth person to be sponsored by the National Park Service’s (NPS) fledgling U.S. World Heritage Fellows program, and the second Fellow to be hosted at Grand Canyon National Park. The U.S. World Heritage Fellowships promote conservation of World Heritage Sites around the globe by providing an opportunity for World Heritage site managers from outside the U.S. to temporarily reside in this country and work alongside the managers and staff of U.S. World Heritage Sites. Previous World Heritage Fellows have come from Brazil, Kenya, the Seychelles, South Africa, and Peru.

Victoria Falls (or Mosi-oa-Tunya –"Smoke that Thunders" in the local language) are, like the Grand Canyon, one of the most iconic natural areas in the world. The falls are the most significant feature of the National Park, and when the Zambezi is in full flood (usually February or March) they form the largest curtain of falling water in the world. During these months, over 132 million gallons of water per minute go over the falls, which are over one mile wide, and drop over 300 feet at Rainbow Falls in Zambia.

The national park is also an important tourism draw for Zambia, with an average of over 5,000 tourists visiting the park every month.

Mr. Zulu will be working with a variety of NPS programs at the Grand Canyon, with an emphasis on natural resources stewardship and science activities. He is particularly interested in developing a documentation system for Victoria Falls’ flora and fauna populations, and will be learning more about the NPS inventory and monitoring program at Grand Canyon.

According to Stephen Morris, Chief of the NPS International Affairs Office, "Ideally, the entire international community plays a role in the protection of every World Heritage Site. This is a way for the National Park Service to help the United States fulfill that responsibility. Through this program, site managers of World Heritage Sites in other parts of the world can learn from the NPS’s decades of experience managing natural and cultural sites, and the NPS likewise gains new ideas and perspectives that can be applied to the management of our own parks."

Fellowship applicants are asked to provide information on management issues and topics of importance to their sites as part of the application process. Based on the topics submitted by Mr. Zulu, Grand Canyon was selected as the host park for his fellowship.

For more information on the U.S. World Heritage Fellows program, click here.

Mumbai's Oval Precinct to be proposed as a World Heritage Site

2011-08-04T14:29:00.002-04:00

1 August 2011 -

Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra, has approved a motion to propose the Oval Precinct of Mumbai as a cultural World Heritage Site.
The idea to nominate the Oval Precinct originated with the Urban Design Research Institute, an organization based in Mumbai dedicated to architectural and urban improvements.
The Oval Precinct in South Mumbai is chiefly noted for the juxtaposition of different architectural styles from two different centuries - Victorian Gothic from the late 19th century, and Art Deco from the early 20th.
The Architectural Survey of India is working on a presentation and dossier to present to UNESCO for the Oval Precinct's World Heritage proposal.

For the original article on dailybhaskar.com, click here.

2011-07-22T15:04:00.003-04:00

22 July 2011 -

Jamaica's Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, is embracing a tourism plan for the island that offers several distinct, focused tourism packages, such as sports tourism and faith-based tourism. But toursim officials like Bartlett are being criticized for pushing this approach, as opposed to a more holistic marketing strategy.
Dr. Janice Lindsay, a world heritage scholar, said she thinks marketing the culture of Jamaica as a whole, rather than breaking down its tourist-attracting potential into specific areas of interest, would be a better approach. She says Jamaica should draw tourists' attention to the overall cultural heritage of the island. She argues that the fragmented approach to tourism is not only unnecessary - especially because Jamaican culture in general holds a great deal of appeal worldwide - but more expensive.

See the original article, on jamaicaobserver.com's news website, here.

U.S. to propose Poverty Point, Frank Lloyd Wright buildings for World Heritage nomination

2011-07-14T09:10:00.004-04:00

14 July 2011 -

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the U.S. will propose Poverty Point and eleven buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as the next nominations to the World Heritage List.
The nominations will be submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee, the body that makes the final decisions on World Heritage nominations, in 2013. If approved, the sites will be inscribed to the World Heritage list in 2014.
Poverty Point is a prehistoric site in northeastern Louisiana comprising a network of earthwork constructions. Built between 3,100 and 3,700 years ago, it is among the largest permanent hunter-gatherer settlements in the world.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is widely considered one of the most influential architects of all time. Of the 400 completed buildings he designed, 11 from across the country have been selected as superb representations of Wright's vision of an "organic architecture", a notion that has had a profound impact on the craft.
The next step in nominating these two sites will be for the Department of the Interior to collaborate with a Federal Interagency Panel on World Heritage to finalize the decision. The first drafts of the nominations should be completed by next spring.

The information from this post was taken from a press release by the National Park Service's Office of Communications, posted on the InsideNPS website for NPS employees.

Shell to drill near new World Heritage natural site of Ningaloo

2011-07-11T13:59:00.004-04:00

8 July 2011 -

The Australian government has approved Shell's proposal to perform exploratory drilling operations, primarily for gas, 30 miles from the Ningaloo marine park. The Ningaloo Coast was inscribed to the World Heritage list at the 35th World Heritage Committee session held last month in Paris.
Australian conservation groups say a mishap in drilling operations, such as a spill, would pose a tremendous threat to the reef systems within the park.
The site is home to many rare and endangered species of wildlife and is famous for its population of whale sharks, the world's largest species of fish.
The Australian government is not requesting any further environmental assessment from Shell.

See the original article from guardian.co.uk here.

Tanzania to mine uranium in Selous Game Reserve

2011-07-06T10:00:00.003-04:00

1 July 2011 -

The Tanzanian government has approved plans to mine uranium within the frontiers of Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage Site in the south of the country.
Ezekiel Maige, Tanzania's natural resources minister and tourism minister, said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation that the mining project will affect only 0.69% of the land within the park.
The mining project is expected to bring in about $200 million each year, with around $5 million going to the Tanzanian government. Some of this money will go toward managing the park, which costs around $490,000 each year, Maige said.
Mining operations within Selous Game Reserve should generate somewhere around 1,600 jobs.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has requested that Tanzania performs environmental assessments of the mining before it gives its approval.
Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest faunal reserves in the world. Some species, such as the African Wild Dog and the Cape buffalo, are found in greater numbers within this reserve than in any other African game reserve or park.

See the original article at the BBC News: Africa page here.

Despite letter to UN, proposed Serengeti Highway could remain a possibility

2011-06-29T11:42:00.006-04:00

29 June 2011 -

A letter from the Tanzanian government to the United Nations's World Heritage Center is causing confusion in the international community about the proposed construction of a commercial Serengeti Highway through Serengeti National Park.
Conservationists and world heritage advocates are puzzling over the letter's ambiguous language and certain indeterminate word choices. Though many throughout the international heritage community originally heralded the letter as an announcement of the construction project's abandonment, second looks at the message have raised alarming doubts about the Tanzanian government's intentions on whether or not to build the road.
The Tanzanian government incited uproar among the international heritage committee last summer when it announced its intentions to build a 33-mile highway across the national park, a World Heritage Site. Such a highway would seriously impede the annual north-south migrations of a number of species of iconic African wildlife, including the blue wildebeest.

See the original article from nationalgeographic.com's Daily News page here.

26 new sites inscribed to World Heritage list

2011-06-28T10:17:00.006-04:00

24-28 June 2011 -

The World Heritage Committee has inscribed a total of 26 new sites to the World Heritage list, including an extension of one existing World Heritage Site, this week at their 35th annual session, held in Paris.
The newly inscribed sites include locales of exceptional natural or cultural value in Kenya, Australia, China, Japan, Senegal, Barbados, Germany, Italy, France, Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Ethiopia, Viet Nam, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Mongolia, and Nicaragua. Germany's Beech Forests were inscribed by inclusion with Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, in Slovakia and Ukraine, included on the World Heritage Site list in 2007. One of the sites, Pile Dwellings around the Alps, encompasses 111 small sites in Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Germany, and Slovenia. Bridgetown and its Garrison is Barbados's first World Heritage Site.
This year's session brings the total number of World Heritage Sites to 936. Twenty of the new World Heritage Sites are listed as cultural, five natural (including Germany's Beech Forests), and one, Wadi Rum Protected Area in Jordan, mixed.
There will be no more sites inscribed to the list this year. The 35th World Heritage Committee session will end tomorrow.

See press releases on the session from UNESCOPRESS here.

35th Committee inscribes four new World Heritage Sites

2011-06-24T13:50:00.005-04:00

24 June 2011 -

The World Heritage Committee inscribed four new World Heritage Sites today: Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya; Nigaloo Coast, Australia; Ogasawara Islands, Japan; and West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, China.
The Committee's 35th annual session began June 19, in Paris, France. Delegations from 21 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will be reviewing the conservation statuses of 169 existing World Heritage Sites and considering 33 proposals for new World Heritage Sites until the session ends on June 29.

See the latest press releases from UNESCOPRESS here.

UN cultural agency calls on Libyans and NATO to protect heritage sites

2011-06-15T15:19:00.002-04:00

14 June 2011 –
The United Nations cultural organization has called on the warring parties in Libya to protect two World Heritage List sites, one of which has reportedly been shelled already and the other that is said to be a potential target of NATO air attacks.

The Old Town of Ghadamès, known as “the pearl of the desert,” was shelled by Government forces over the weekend, according to media reports. Other reports have said that NATO has refused to rule out the possibility of bombing the Roman town of Leptis Magna, east of Tripoli, which allegedly has warehouses of Government arms.

Read more, here.

What Future for the World Heritage Convention?

2011-06-14T11:26:00.002-04:00

As the World Heritage Convention approaches its 40th anniversary, how can we ensure that it delivers maximum conservation results? This is the subject of the second World Conservation Debate and we'd like to hear your views.

Read the whole article, here.

Federal, local officials to decide on paving road to Chaco Canyon

2011-06-07T15:53:00.002-04:00

7 June 2011 -
A fight over the future of one of New Mexico's greatest historic treasures could soon find a resolution when local county officials and the federal government finally answer a nearly seven year-old question: Should the road to Chaco Canyon be paved?

See the full article, by Bobby Magill, on the New West Travel & Outdoors website here.

ICOMOS recommends against Le Corbusier buildings' World Heritage nomination

2011-06-06T10:40:00.006-04:00

3 June 2011 -
A consultant has recommended to UNESCO that they reject a proposal to include 19 buildings designed by French architect Le Corbusier on their list of world heritage sites.
The buildings up for recognition are located in 6 countries, and includes the National Museum of Western Art in Japan.
The International Council Of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) says its recommendation to reject the Le Corbusiers is based on their opinion that they fail to "demonstrate remarkable universal significance of the modern architectural movement," according to the Daily Yomiyuri Online.

See the original article on planetizen.com here.

UNESCO receives 42 nominations to join World Heritage List

2011-05-17T08:51:00.001-04:00

5 May 2011 –
More than 40 natural or cultural sites – including five from countries never represented before – have been nominated for inscription this year on the World Heritage List run by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Read the whole article here.

Reflect and conserve

2011-05-04T07:05:00.003-04:00

By Ashley Chappo, Columnist on April 29, 2011 (University of Virginia)

COLLEGE years pass us by quickly. No one knows this better than the graduating Class of 2011. Therefore, as we enjoy our remaining days here, we should take time to reflect on the qualities that make the University truly distinct.

One is the University’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our University, along with Jefferson’s Monticello, shares a place among the world’s most remarkable and valuable treasures, including the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon.

In the United States, there are 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 17 of which are national parks. The University is the only college in the nation that enjoys the rare honor of World Heritage status. It became a World Heritage site in 1987 thanks to the efforts of the National Park Service.

As University students, we are privileged to live within the shadow of history. Every day for four years, we are able to walk beneath the marble columns of one of our nation’s most important cultural landmarks. Its architectural and educational designs embody the ideals of the American republic and emphasize a spirit of democracy, only achievable by one of the world’s principal constitutional experimenters.

Jefferson’s Academical Village was a revolutionary educational plan — its 10 pavilions “serve as an encyclopaedia of classical and neoclassical architectural designs” and its Rotunda stands as a “half-scale copy of the Pantheon in Rome.” United beneath the colonnades, we all learn within one of our nation’s most beautiful and enthralling landmarks.

As residents of Charlottesville and University students, we are subjects to an extraordinary heritage. We owe our thanks to those who preserve and maintain this national legacy. Before we leave the University, we should take advantage of the history around us and the cultural heritage to which we are heirs. We should learn what our status as a “World Heritage site” means, and why it is important.

The United States always has stood at the front of the conservation and preservation movements. Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in 1872, sparking a national park idea that would forever change the world. The idea of a nationally administered public land was a new concept; it had significant implications for the modern conservation movement. A national park was at its core democratic — all individuals of a nation would share in the collective treasures of their environment.

Not surprisingly, a movement also emerged to establish the national park idea at an international level. In 1965, the idea of a “World Heritage Trust” was put forward during a White House Conference. The purpose of this trust would be to look after and preserve “the world’s superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the entire world citizenry.”

In 1972, the World Heritage Convention — also known as the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage — was adopted by UNESCO. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In accordance with the World Heritage Convention, preservation and conservation became not only national, but international interests. The Convention maintained a two part goal: the conservation of nature and the preservation of culture.

Of the 911 World Heritage sites, 704 are designated as cultural, 180 as natural and 27 as mixed properties. All potential new World Heritage sites are recommended by member nations of the World Heritage Convention. Each member state may voluntarily nominate its own national sites to be selected based on a strict set of criteria.

In Charlottesville, we are lucky to live close to two other historic sites, which currently sit on the Tentative List to be considered for UNESCO World Heritage site status — Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond. Along with our own university and Jefferson’s Monticello, these sites encompass our most precious cultural heritage.

To be accepted onto the World Heritage List, a site must be of “outstanding universal value” and “meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.” All nominations of new American sites are overseen by the Secretary of the Interior. To be considered, a site already must be designated a federal property, a national historic landmark or a national natural landmark. Nominations then are assessed by a smaller, elected body of 21 member nations, known as the World Heritage Committee. The committee selects new World Heritage Sites and through the World Heritage Fund provides assistance, guidance and training to member nations.

Once a new site is designated, direct authority remains in the hands of the member nation to continue to protect and preserve the property. Most sites are maintained either by the national, state or local government, or by a tribal or private authority. In the United States, the majority of our World Heritage Sites are managed and maintained by the National Park Service.

Today, the University maintains a deep connection with the National Park Service and the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. We should understand this connection — it can teach us a lot about the importance of conservation and preservation in the modern age. We are truly lucky to attend the University, and we must remember that we gain our education not only in the classroom, but also in our presence among the colonnades.

Ashley Chappo’s column usually appeared Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.chappo@cavalierdaily.com.

Aboriginal leaders quit World Heritage

2011-04-27T12:53:00.001-04:00

Two Aboriginal leaders have walked away from an effort to establish a World Heritage area in Cape York, labelling it a rubber stamping process for the Bligh government's green agenda.

Read more, here.

Oil Spill has Reached Inaccessible Island, a World Heritage Site

2011-03-31T08:58:00.001-04:00

ABOARD PRINCE ALBERT II: Expedition staff environmental scientist, Claudia Holgate received an email from Tristan da Cunha Department of Conservation director, Trevor Glass indicating that oil from the wrecked freighter “Oliva” had now reached Inaccessible Island, a World Heritage Site. To read the whole article, click here.

The Economist has Tea with Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO

2011-03-25T08:04:00.001-04:00

Watch the YouTube video here.

UNESCO asks Libya, allied forces to respect ancient cultural sites

2011-03-24T08:43:00.001-04:00

New York - Libya and allied forces implementing the no-fly zone must respect Libya's rich cultural sites, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said Wednesday.
UNESCO has inscribed five of Libya's famous sites on its World Heritage List and it urged the forces to avoid those areas as well as other historical and cultural sites.

See more.

The United Kingdom nominates 11 sites for UNESCO World Heritage status

2011-03-24T08:41:00.003-04:00

The Forth bridge, the remote island of St Helena in the South Atlantic where Napoleon died in 1821, and the Lake District are among 11 places the government will nominate today as worthy of becoming world heritage sites to be ranked alongside the Pyramids and Stonehenge.

The government will also make a third attempt to have the corner of Kent where Charles Darwin wrote the book that changed the history of science recognised as a world treasure.

John Penrose, the tourism and heritage minister, said: "Few places in the world can match the wealth of wonderful heritage we have available in the UK. The 11 places that make up the new 'UK tentative list' are fantastic examples of our cultural and natural heritage, and I believe they have every chance of joining famous names like the Sydney Opera House and the Canadian Rockies to become world heritage sites."

Read the whole article, here.

Protection of Flathead region needed

2011-03-08T11:45:00.001-05:00

Now that the trans-boundary conference calls and Washington, D.C., hand-shaking sessions are over, a lot remains to finish in protecting the Flathead River between British Columbia and Montana.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer's Valentine's Day announcement that two conservation groups were providing $9.4 million to buy out mining claims on the Canadian side of the Flathead didn't include all the details of the deal. One significant omission was that while the U.S.-based Nature Conservancy is raising its half of the money through private donations, the Nature Conservancy of Canada is dipping into a $225 million Canadian government fund for its contribution.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

WB offers to fund alternative Serengeti road

2011-03-03T13:52:00.001-05:00

A leading US environmental expert has warned that Tanzania’s resolve to build the northern road through the Serengeti National Park (Senapa) could deny the country substantial foreign aid.
The warning comes against the backdrop of plans by the government to construct a road through Senapa, which local and international conservationists say could spell doom for wildlife conservation efforts in Tanzania. In a letter to President Jakaya Kikwete dated March 1, 2011, the expert with a vast experience on the Serengeti, Prof John S.Adams, says the World Bank has offered to help finance the alternate southern route in order to help preserve Senapa, the world heritage site from losing its outstanding universal value.

To read more, click here.

UN world heritage agency appoints special envoy for Preah Vihear temple

2011-02-18T13:42:00.002-05:00

11 February 2011 – The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today named Koïchiro Matsuura as Special Envoy to address the issue of Preah Vihear, a Hindu temple inscribed on the World Heritage List that has been damaged owing to recent border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand.
Mr. Matsuura, the former Director-General of UNESCO, will visit Bangkok and Phnom Penh to discuss how the site can be safeguarded.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Wind farm threatens Mont St Michel's UNESCO status

2011-02-03T08:05:00.001-05:00

Plans to build a wind farm near the picturesque island abbey of Mont Saint Michel could threaten the UNESCO World Heritage status of one of France's most famous monuments.

Read more here.

Istanbul’s world heritage sites in neglect

2011-02-02T08:39:00.002-05:00

When construction began on an underwater tunnel below the Bosporus strait dividing the European and Asian halves of Istanbul, workers uncovered the ancient port of Constantinople.

It was no real surprise, perhaps — Istanbul is an archaeological treasure trove, with historic sites from the Hippodrome of Byzantine times to the Ottoman era Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace.

All these architectural riches have earned Turkey’s largest city a World Heritage Site designation from the United Nations. But Monday, the city is in danger of being struck off that list.

Read more.

Mali City Rankled by Rules for Life in Spotlight

2011-01-14T13:52:00.001-05:00

Read about one of Mali's World Heritage Sites. Click here.

Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Featured in National Geographic magazine

2010-12-22T14:59:00.003-05:00

Cahokia Mound State Historic Site, one of the U.S.'s 21 World Heritage sites, is featured in the January edition of the National Geographic Magazine. The article is also available on-line here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text

NPS seeks public comments on possible new World Heritage nominations

2010-12-14T11:42:00.001-05:00

For more information, click here.

As Global Heritage Sites Vanish...

2010-12-14T07:57:00.003-05:00

Ayutthaya in Thailand. Mirador in Guatemala. Most people outside of these countries have not heard of either, and future generations will never know of or experience these historical treasures if we do not work to save them.

Both are "global heritage" sites, meaning they are of great cultural value to their own countries and to civilization collectively. That value is more than just a link to the past -- heritage sites offer an overlooked key to revitalizing poorer nations. But explosive growth in tourism and unchecked development in developing countries is putting heritage sites under such severe stress that experts fear widespread, irreplaceable losses in the next 10-20 years. We learned this in the creation of a new report, Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, which reviewed over 500 heritage sites. We found that simultaneous and accelerating man-made threats are putting many fragile sites in imminent danger. National treasures are being lost and damaged by illegal encroachment, construction, poor management, unsustainable tourism, looting and conflict.

To read more, click here.

Gary Arndt's Blog about the World Heritage Sites he has visited

2010-12-14T07:55:00.002-05:00

To read Gary's Blog, click here.

13 U.S. Properties in Contention for World Heritage Listing

2010-12-14T07:51:00.002-05:00

To view pictures of possible U.S. World Heritage Sites, click here.

Marine World Heritage Managers' First Gathering Celebrates Hawaiian Islands

2010-12-14T07:49:00.002-05:00

HONOLULU, Hawaii, December 6, 2010 (ENS) - Managers of the 43 marine sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List met for the first time last week in Honolulu to explore ways of conserving these unique areas jeopardized by industrialization, acidification and overfishing.

Schools of pennantfish, pyramid and milletseed butterflyfish on a healthy coral reef in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument "World Heritage - the very words evoke the global mission to protect the most exceptional and iconic places in the world," said Francesco Bandarin of Italy, UNESCO's assistant director general of culture.

"Out of nearly 6,000 marine protected areas now designated worldwide, only 43 have the highest internationally recognized status for conservation, UNESCO World Heritage Listing," he said.

Marine World Heritage was first recognized by UNESCO in 1981 with the inscription of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park on the World Heritage List.

To read the whole article and look at the photos, click HERE.

A Collapse In Pompeii Highlights Neglect In Italy

2010-11-30T09:55:00.001-05:00

A 2,000-year-old building at the ancient site of Pompeii collapsed in rubble earlier this month, only months after a piece of Rome's Colosseum fell to the ground and the roof of the home of Emperor Nero crumbled. The collapses made world headlines and triggered criticism of sharp budget cuts and charges of neglect of Italy's vast archaeological heritage.

Pompeii, a UNESCO world heritage site, was destroyed in A.D. 79 by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that killed thousands and buried the city under 20 feet of ash. But the ash also helped preserve Pompeii's treasures, providing precious information about life in the ancient world.

Every year, Pompeii attracts 2.5 million visitors, and many come even on cold, rainy days in winter. Walking along the ancient Roman road, visitors see many houses propped up by beams, some of them rotting.

Read the rest of the article. Click here.

South Africa Iron Age site 'threatened'

2010-10-26T07:51:00.001-04:00

A coal mine being developed close to a World Heritage Site in South Africa could "completely destroy" one of the country's most cherished national parks, UNESCO has warned.
Environmental, wildlife and archaeological groups have objected to the South African government's decision to allow the mine near the boundary of Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape in the extreme north of the country.

To read more, click here.

Private water raiding threatens Angkor's temples built on sand

2010-09-27T14:04:00.000-04:00

Unchecked pumping of scarce water resource from under Siem Reap puts stability of Cambodia's ancient monuments at risk.

Read more, here.

A danger list in danger

2010-08-27T06:57:00.002-04:00

WHEN an archipelago famed for its flora and fauna is deemed to have escaped from environmental peril, that might sound like good news for anyone with an interest in the fate of life on Earth. But UNESCO’s recent clean bill of health for the Galapagos islands was greeted with dismay by many of the people who care passionately about the place.

The decision to remove the islands from the list of “world heritage sites in danger”—taken at a meeting in Brasília that concluded on August 3rd—was only one of several signs that the UN agency is bending its own rules under pressure from member states. And since UNESCO is supposed to be an unprejudiced protector of the whole world’s built and natural environment, such slipping standards are not merely of concern in remote Pacific islands.

To read more, click here.

Galapagos No Longer on List of World Heritage in Danger

2010-08-24T08:03:00.002-04:00

The Galapagos Islands have been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger, despite IUCN´s strong recommendation to the contrary, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said today.
The Galapagos Islands, which have been called a unique "living museum and showcase of evolution" were inscribed on the Danger List in 2007 because of threats posed by invasive species, unbridled tourism and overfishing.

To read the whole article, click here.

World Heritage Committee inscribes a total of 21 new sites on UNESCO World Heritage List (including one from the United States)

2010-08-12T07:40:00.003-04:00

The 34th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia since 25 July today finished its consideration of nominations for the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger.

One of the new areas that became a World Heritage Site is Papahanaumokuakea, a vast and isolated linear cluster of small, low lying islands and atolls, with their surrounding ocean, roughly 250 km to the northwest of the main Hawaiian Archipelago and extending over some 1931 km.

Meeting under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Culture of Brazil, João Luiz da Silva Ferreira, the Committee inscribed 21 new sites, including 15 cultural, 5 natural and 1 mixed properties. Three countries, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tajikistan, had sites added for the first time. One existing natural site was also recognized for its cultural values and thus becomes a mixed site.
The World Heritage Committee also added four sites to the List of World Heritage in Danger and removed the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) from this List.

For more information, click here.

A Tale of Two Cities

2010-06-29T07:41:00.004-04:00

A look at two Asian cities offers a glimpse at the challenges faced once a location makes the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's list. One, the former royal city of Luang Prabang in Laos, was listed in 1995; the other, Malaysia's trading port George Town, won its spot in 2008. While the factors shaping the two cities' futures differ, they share a common experience: Even as a listing helps preserve architectural heritage—and draws tourism—it can change the character of the local communities that are an integral part of the site's cultural value.

To read more, click here.

The Perils of Popularity

2010-06-23T12:11:00.001-04:00

World Heritage status places sites in the global spotlight, but does little to protect them from the tourists that follow.

In the 38 years since UNESCO launched its World Heritage program to help preserve cultural and natural treasures, nearly 900 sites—including Pompeii, Machu Picchu, and Angkor Wat—have earned the distinction. But some conservation experts now say that the uncontrolled tourism development that follows World Heritage designation may do more harm than good for the very sites the program was meant to protect.

Read more, here.

Spain to reopen access to prehistoric cave paintings

2010-06-15T08:28:00.001-04:00

MADRID — Spain's Altamira cave, which contains some of the world's most important prehistoric paintings, will reopen to the public at the end of the year for the first time since 2002, the government said Tuesday.

A panel of experts will determine how many people can enter the cave located some 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of the northern city of Santander without damaging the paintings, Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde told reporters.

To read the whole article, click here.

Uganda's highest ice cap splits on Mount Margherita

2010-05-04T08:45:00.003-04:00

The ice cap on Uganda's highest peak has split because of global warming, Uganda's Wildlife Authority (UWA) says.

The glacier is located at an altitude of 5,109m (16,763ft) in the Rwenzori mountain range, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The authorities say a crevasse has blocked access to the Margherita summit - the third-highest peak in Africa, and a popular destination with climbers.

Scientists say glaciers in the Rwenzori range could disappear within 20 years.

To read the whole article, click here.

"World Heritage Cultural Landscapes. A Handbook for Conservation and Management"

2010-04-22T12:43:00.002-04:00

ENGLISH VERSION

16 April 2010

To: Permanent Delegations and National Commissions of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention

Subject : World Heritage paper n°26: "World Heritage Cultural Landscapes. A Handbook for Conservation and Management".

Madam/Sir,
I am pleased to inform you that World Heritage paper n°26: "World Heritage Cultural Landscapes. A handbook for Conservation and Management" is now available.
World Heritage Cultural Landscapes, a category adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 1992, has been, in a way, the precursor of the considerations of the Global Strategy for a balanced and representative World Heritage List of 1994, and of the major considerations by expert groups and the World Heritage Committee in bringing nature and culture closer together in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

This concept demonstrated a major change in the interpretation of this global conservation instrument that is the World Heritage Convention:
- an opening towards cultures in regions other than Europe (and specifically Pacific, Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa);
- a recognition of the non-monumental character of the heritage of cultural landscapes;
- the acknowledgement of the links between cultural and biological diversity, specifically with sustainable land-use.
"World Heritage Cultural Landscapes. A Handbook for Conservation and Management" fulfils a need identified by the World Heritage Committee and many site managers, as it specifically examines the particular issues involved in managing cultural landscapes of outstanding universal value.

This book is directed especially towards two groups of experts and officials: those preparing nominations and those managing cultural landscapes already inscribed on the World Heritage List. More generally, this publication will help to promote good practice in the management of all cultural landscapes, using World Heritage listed and potential cultural landscapes as examples.
The English version of the book is hereby transmitted to all Permanent Delegations and National Commissions of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention who are subscribed to English-reading distribution lists in the centralized UNESCO mailing system.

The French version of the book is currently under preparation. The completion of translation and printing is tentatively foreseen for the end of October 2010 (due to the heavy workload related to the production of the documents for the World Heritage Committee). In the meantime, States Parties subscribed to French-reading distribution lists may access the English version on-line, for information: click here.

Irish sites seek world heritage status

2010-04-22T12:41:00.001-04:00

The Historic City of Dublin, Royal Tara, Georgian Dublin, the Céide Fields in northwest Mayo, Dún Aonghusa in Aran, the monastic site of Clonmacnoise and the Burren in Co Clare are included on a “tentative list” of nominees to Unesco for designation as world heritage sites.

To find out more, click here.

Australian Salvage Crews Successfully Refloat Stricken Coal Carrier at Great Barrier Reef

2010-04-13T14:08:00.001-04:00

For the complete story, click here.

Putin about-face on paper mill threatens freshwater treasure

2010-04-12T11:58:00.002-04:00

BAIKALSK, Russia — The future of 20 percent of the world's supply of pure fresh water is in jeopardy because a surprise decree by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will allow a heavily polluting pulp mill to reopen on the southern shore of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/07/91779/putin-about-face-on-paper-mill.html#ixzz0ktzouObL

Suspicion Of Arson At Royal Tombs Fuels Deadly Clashes In Uganda

2010-03-18T14:35:00.001-04:00

KIGALI, Rwanda - Riots erupted at venerated burial grounds in Uganda on Wednesday, and witnesses said that police officers shot and killed three protesters. The violence was a sign of continuing troubles between the Ugandan government and members of the Buganda traditional kingdom who want more local power.

The trouble started on Tuesday night in Uganda's capital, Kampala, when a suspicious fire engulfed the Kasubi tombs, built in 1882 and later converted into a royal burial ground for the Buganda kingdom. The tombs are a World Heritage site, and according to Unesco, the United Nations agency that bestows the recognition, they are "a masterpiece of human creativity" and "the most active religious place in the kingdom."

By Wednesday evening, hundreds of members of the Buganda community were still streaming toward the remains of the tombs, and kingdom officials called for a week of mourning.
"People are camped there, they lit fires, they keep on singing the kingdom's anthem," said Peter Myiga, a spokesman for the kingdom. "But there is tension that you can notice."

Those tensions exploded earlier on Wednesday when Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, visited the scene of the fire and protesters tried to prevent him from approaching the tombs. The main tomb, made of wood, thatch, reed and wattle, had burned to the ground, and supporters of the Buganda king, whose title is the kabaka, blamed arson. Some supporters accused the government of setting the fire.

Click here for more information and the rest of the story.

The New World Heritage Site You Can't Enter

2010-03-18T14:31:00.003-04:00

The treasure-packed interior of Brussels' Stoclet Palace is a mystery to all but a privileged handful.

(By Paul Ames)

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The marble-clad palace, crowned with a quartet of muscular copper nudes, is a familiar landmark for thousands of Brussels' commuters who drive past every evening on their way to the leafy eastern suburbs.

But the treasure-packed interior of the Stoclet Palace is a mystery to all but a privileged handful and the unique artworks it contains are more remote to inhabitants of the Belgian capital than the Taj Mahal or Pyramids of Giza.

Last year, the Stoclet Palace joined the United Nations’ list of the world's greatest heritage sites.
It was one of just four European monuments added to the list, a reflection of the palace’s importance to the history of modern art, architecture and design.
The masterpiece, generally considered one of the finest private houses built in the 20th century, remains in private hands. Although the state is financing repairs and maintenance, the palace remains strictly off limits to the public.

"Very few people have ever visited it and there are hardly any photographs. That’s crazy when you think the Belgian taxpayer is paying for its repairs," said local councilor Gauthier van Outryve d’Ydewalle.

Brussels banker Adolphe Stoclet ordered the palace built in 1901 on the designs of the Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann, founder of the Wiener Werkstatte movement, which was revolutionizing art and design in Vienna.

The palace is the movement’s masterwork. Hoffmann broke with the ornate art nouveau style then fashionable in the Belgian capital, creating a grand home with clean, rectangular lines that would deeply influence the modernist and art deco movements in the decades that followed.
The Viennese movement aimed to move beyond mere architecture to create complete works of art in which the furniture, lighting, garden, floor tiles, carpets and all other elements of decoration were designed down by to the last detail to produce a unified whole.

To cap it all, Hoffman invited the great Viennese painter Gustav Klimt to create a monumental frieze — "The Tree of Life" — a mosaic encrusted with gold and precious stones that covers the dining room walls. There are also sculptures and paintings by other leading artists of the time.
"The interest of the house is acknowledged all over the world," said the citation from the U.N.’s cultural agency UNESCO including the building on the world heritage list.

"It is a remarkable illustration of the birth of constructive and decorative modernity, and is frequently presented as an example in schools of architecture all over the world."
After its completion in 1911, the palace played host to glamorous parties for the cultural glitterati of the time. Guests included Igor Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau and Claude Debussy.
In recent times, however, the palace has fallen on hard times. It has lain empty for years, apart from the live-in caretakers, while the descendents of Aldolphe Stoclet squabble over the property’s future. Estimates have put the value of the house at at least 100 million euros ($137 million), but they may be conservative, given the fact that a single painting by Klimt sold for $137.5 million in 2006.

Ownership of the house and contents is shared among seven Stoclet heirs. The Belgian government recently won a legal battle to prevent some of the heirs from selling off pieces of furniture, but while the house and its contents are now protected, there is no clear idea as to what will happen to the property.

Some of the owners have indicated they would agree to a limited opening to the public, others are firmly opposed, claiming hordes of visitors would ruin the building.
"It’s up to the owners to decide what to do with the property and they have the right to keep it completely private if they wish. There is no obligation linked to the UNESCO decision to open it to the public," said Pascale Ingelaere, a senior adviser on heritage issues to the president of Brussels’ regional government.

The regional government is hoping, however, to open exploratory talks with the family on the building's future in the next few months, she said.
"We would like to discuss this with the owners, to see to what extent we could envisage in the short- or medium-term an eventual opening to the public," Ingelaere said.
In the meantime, the regional government is paying almost half the costs of a 1.3 million euro ($1.8 million) program to carry out the most urgent preservation work up to 2014.

For the immediate future, though, there is little chance the authorities would be able to find the millions of euros needed to buy the property, even if the family could be persuaded to sell the property.

"Just now, we have some rather serious budget problems, so it’s not really the right moment," Ingelaere acknowledged. "However, if ever we had a really serious threat to the building, we’d get around the table and find a solution. We won’t let the Stoclet Palace fall down."
That at least is a sign of progress in a city that has a bad reputation for protecting its architectural heritage.

While four turn-of-the-century homes built by the city’s own art nouveau genius Victor Horta have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2000, his masterpiece — the House of the People — was demolished in 1965 and replaced by a non-descript office block.

India's Majuli Island

2010-03-05T08:20:00.001-05:00

"Following the World Heritage Committee's decision to defer the inscription of India's Majuli Island on the World Heritage List in 2008, the State Government of Assam is working on a substantially revised nomination dossier..."

To read the whole article, click here.

UNESCO offers assistance in wake of deadly Moroccan minaret collapse

2010-02-23T08:01:00.001-05:00

21 February 2010 – The head of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) today offered the agency's support following a deadly minaret collapse in Meknes, a World Heritage site, in central Morocco.

For the complete article, click here.

British Columbia Officials Say "No" To Mining in Canadian Flathead North Of Glacier National Park

2010-02-12T13:14:00.001-05:00

On the eve of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the lieutenant governor of British Columbia has announced that the province will not allow mining in the Canadian Flathead just north of Glacier National Park and due west of Waterton Lakes National Park.

To read the whole article, click here.

Men Defend Historic Mandela Site ... From Rabbits

2010-02-01T13:56:00.001-05:00

ROBBEN ISLAND, South Africa — This dollop of land, just 1 mile wide and 2 miles long, is where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. Now venerated as a World Heritage Site, it is one of South Africa’s biggest tourist attractions, with 1,200 or so people each day boarding ferries in Cape Town that in 45 minutes carry them back into history.

To read more about the rabbits, click here.

Coalition Donates Hydro Plant in Bid to Save World Heritage Site

2010-01-29T11:02:00.002-05:00

A venture by an international coalition of power companies aims to shore up world-famous rice terraces in the northern Philippines and bring a sustainable source of electricity to an area that desperately needs it.

To read more, click here.

Culture Minister tightens bidding process for UK World Heritage Sites

2010-01-29T09:05:00.001-05:00

The government has tightened the selection process for potential UK World Heritage Sites in a bid to find "sure-fire winners" from a "more focused" shortlist.

A smaller Tentative List of locations will be put forward to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for the first time since 1999, with an independent panel judging nominations from local authorities.

"Being designated as a World Heritage Site is a real honour and a rare privilege," said Culture Minister Margaret Hodge, citing the social, economic and tourism benefits of the scheme.

Click here to read the whole article.

International cooperation helping restore fisher population in Olympic National Park

2010-01-29T08:20:00.001-05:00

In a projecting highlighting international cooperation between the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Olympic National Park, twelve fishers were released yesterday in Olympic National Park, continuing a three-year effort to reintroduce the animal to Washington State. About the size of a cat, fishers are members of the weasel family, and are native to the forests of Washington, including the Olympic Peninsula. The species vanished from the state decades ago because of over-trapping in the late 1800s and early 1900s and habitat loss and fragmentation.

For more information, click here.

International Team Says Mining In Canadian Flathead Would Harm Glacier

2010-01-22T12:35:00.003-05:00

An international team of scientists has concluded that mining in the "Canadian Flathead" north of Glacier National Park would harm both Glacier and the adjoining Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada.

Read the whole story here.

Climbing on Uluru

2010-01-12T08:02:00.002-05:00

Tourists will be able to climb the World Heritage-listed Uluru for at least 18 months after the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, backed away from a move to ban it.
Mr Garrett, who as a rock singer for the band Midnight Oil sang about land rights at the base of rock 20 years ago, supported the view of Aboriginal traditional owners who regard it as a sacred site and wanted climbing banned.
There were also concerns that some of the 100,000 tourists who climb the rock each year were defecating on it.
But under a new 10-year management plan announced by Mr Garrett yesterday, the 348-metre rock will remain open to climbers until its popularity dwindles or new visitor experiences are developed.

For more information, see this link.

UK defers the World Heritage proposal for the twin Anglo-Saxon monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow.

2009-12-08T08:33:00.002-05:00

The decision by authorities in the United Kingdom to postpone the submission of a World Heritage nomination for the site from 2010 to 2011emphasizes how important it is ensure that the strongest possible case be made to justify the international significance of a site when it is put forward to the World Heritage Committee. Given the increasing rigor to which nomination documents are subjected, governments have made them much more elaborate and thorough than in the past.

Click here for more information.

U.S. House condemns illegal logging, decimation of wildlife in Madagascar

2009-11-05T11:16:00.001-05:00

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Resolution today that condemns the unchecked illegal logging and decimation of Madagascar's endemic species, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), author of the resolution, said in a statement published on his Web site.
"The House is sending a firm signal that the devastating and illegal destruction of Madagascar's natural resources will not be tolerated," Blumenauer said. "Illegal logging not only does irreparable harm to the environment, but it destroys livelihoods.

Click here for the entire article.

World Heritage sites want your input

2009-11-03T15:13:00.003-05:00

By Laura Bly, USA TODAY

TripAdvisor is launching a new partnership with UNESCO to solicit opinions and feedback on nearly 900 World Heritage sites across the globe.

Many of UNESCO's World Heritage designations — Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park, and Venice, Italy, among them are no strangers to visitor scrutiny. But others, from Southern Illinois Cahokia Mounds archaeological site to Australia's Lord Howe Island Group, aren't as well-known. Using customized review forms, travelers can submit comments on the condition of the sites and find out more on how to protect them.

Click here to see the Travel Advisor announcement.

Mt. Kilimanjaro Ice Cap Continues Rapid Retreat

2009-11-03T11:57:00.001-05:00

Researchers studying the mountaintop, including those involved in this study, differ in their conclusions on how much of the melting could result from human activity or other climatological influences. Click here for more information.

World Heritage Status: Is There Opportunity for Economic Gain?

2009-10-21T14:52:00.001-04:00

The Lake District, England's largest national park, commissioned a study to determine the economic impact of World Heritage status, as part of their effort to secure World Heritage designation for the park. Given a previous cost/benefit analysis developed in the United Kingdom by Price Watershouse Coopers consultants which highlighted the high cost of preparing a nomination dossier. The Lake District study is a further attempt to examine the benefits of World Heritage inscription. The study finds, among several interesting conclusions, that "attributing socio-economic impacts to the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation is complex and difficult. It is rarely the designation itself which achieves the impacts, and more normally the actions and investments of the local stakeholders." To see the complete study, click here.

Manitoba puts $10 Million into Trust Fund for UNESCO

2009-10-14T15:21:00.004-04:00

With four days remaining in his decade-long reign, outgoing Manitoba Premier Gary Doer made a significant contribution toward his legacy yesterday, pledging $10-million to help preserve a swath of boreal forest as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Click here for the news report.

Taos Pueblo Included on World Monuments Fund 2010 Watch List of Endangered Sites

2009-10-09T07:43:00.001-04:00

Bonnie Burnham, President of the World Monuments Fund (WMF), today announced the 2010 World Monuments Watch. For more than 40 years, WMF, a nonprofit organization, has worked to preserve cultural heritage across the globe. The 2010 Watch includes 93 sites now at risk, representing 47 countries. These include 9 sites from the United States and 15 dating from the 20th century. The Watch is WMF’s flagship advocacy program, and it calls international attention to threatened cultural heritage. One of the sites on the new Watch List is Taos Pueblo.Surrounded by growing region, Taos Pueblo, the only US World Heritage Site, designated for the significance of its living culture faces a variety of threats.
For more information on Taos, see: http://www.wmf.org/project/taos-pueblo

U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Awards Support for Major Projects at Sites in Peru, Nepal, and Macedonia

2009-09-30T12:54:00.001-04:00

The conservation of the Sacred City of Caral in the Supe Valley of Peru is one of three large-scale partnership-based cultural heritage preservation projects to receive financial support from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) in 2009.

Read the whole article, here.

U.N. scientists assess mining threats to Glacier National Park

2009-09-23T11:24:00.001-04:00

WEST GLACIER - A team of scientists from the United Nations is visiting Glacier National Park, assessing potential threats posed by mining plans in Canadian wildlands upstream of the park. Click here to find out more.

The limits of soft cultural power

2009-09-15T12:26:00.001-04:00

Guarding precious and vulnerable places is one of the better things the UN’s cultural agency does—but it may topple over if it stretches too far. To read the whole article, click here.

Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report

2009-09-09T08:01:00.004-04:00

The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 was provided to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts on 30 June 2009 and subsequently tabled in the Australian Parliament.
The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 is a summary of the past and present condition of the environmental, economic and social values of the Great Barrier Reef and presents its possible future. Click here for more information.

To List or Not to List?

2009-08-20T09:16:00.003-04:00

In the words of a UNESCO mission last year, "Commercial interests have driven measures to facilitate large numbers of tourists, compromising the authentic heritage values which attracted visitors to the property in the first place.'' This is most recently seen in the ancient city of Dresden, the site removed from the World Heritage List at this past Conference in Seville, Spain due to the construction of a bridge. Newsweek writer William Underhill reports on the contradiction between the goals of UNESCO and the goals of the country when dealing with World Heritage Sites. Read the full article to understand how UNESCO is working to remedy this situation.

Chinese and U.S. World Heritage sites become Sister Parks

2009-08-17T15:26:00.003-04:00

The South China Karst World Heritage Site and the U.S. Mammoth Cave National Park World Heritage Site signed a sister park agreement today. The sister park agreement will mark a starting point for environmental cooperation and communication between the two. Both countries have much to offer one another in areas of sustainable development, scientific research, science popularization, and management. This is the second sister park relationship between China and the U.S., with the first being in 2006 between China's Mount Huangshan and U.S.' Yosemite National Park. Keep reading to learn more about the opportunities for cooperation and communication between the newly created China-U.S. sister parks.

Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois is a UN World Heritage Site

2009-08-17T15:04:00.005-04:00

Noted anthropologist Timothy Pauketat has taken to telling the story of Cahokia, an area encompassing the ruins of the cultural center to the people once referred to by historians as the "Mound Builders." Although this story has often been told in passing to students as they learn their American history, it deserves a much closer look. Pauketat does just that and, "provides a compellingly argued and highly engaging account of a lost civilization in America's own backyard," according to Chicago Tribune contributor, Scott Stevens. Read Stevens article to get his complete review of Pauketat's book, "Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City of the Mississippi."

17 Australian World Heritage areas at risk

2009-08-13T09:58:00.003-04:00

An online news source reported that a recent study found that, "seventeen of Australia's iconic World Heritage properties will experience increased risks from climate change." Some of the seventeen at risk sites that are natural are: the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park, Lord Howe Island Group, the Tasmanian Wilderness, and the Greater Blue Mountains. The study places special emphasis on the Great Barrier Reef, which is Australia's largest World Heritage site and the world's largest and most complex coral reef system. The online article summarizes some of the risks and general consensus surrounding the recent study. For further information about the study, read the full report, Implications of climate change for Australia's World Heritage properties: a preliminary assessment

Interior Secretary Travels to North Fork

2009-08-13T09:15:00.005-04:00

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited North Fork and Middle Fork of the Flathead Rivers in Montana in hopes of some form of designation protecting Glacier National Park and the Flathead Basin from the development of natural resources upstream. Glacier National Park is a peace park with Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and UNESCO is currently researching a possible declaration of the park "in danger," due to environmental degredation when a coal mine and coal-bed methane drilling operation in southeastern British Colombia was proposed in June. Another mining project was introduced at the end of June by Max Resource Group, demonstrating the current environmental concerns of the park. Interior Secretary Salazar is emphasizing international cooperation between the U.S. and Canada to protect the Flathead Water Basin. Read the full article to find more information on the importance and possiblities of the North Fork and the Flathead Basin.

But Where's George?

2009-07-14T11:06:00.005-04:00

Mount Vernon is known, by nearly every American, as the home of our first president and Founding Father, George Washington. But this fact may be the very reason Mount Vernon faces a challenge being accepted as a World Heritage site. As quoted from the Washington Post, "a group advising the U.S. government on getting American sites onto the prestigious list initially rejected Mount Vernon because of the George factor." To learn just what this challenge means for Mount Vernon and how it may overcome it, continue reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/03/AR2009070301570.html

U.S. Cultural Preservation Awards for 2009

2009-07-10T12:21:00.003-04:00

As this memo from the U.S. Department of State outlines, the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation will be supporting projects at eight World Heritage sites. The AFCP was established by Congress in 2001 to "provide direct grant support for the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects and collections, and forms of traditional cultural expression in countries around the world." Since its establishment, the AFCP has supported more than 500 cultural preservation projects. Read the memo to find out the newest sites AFCP is supporting: http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/June/20090625173410eaifas0.7132532.html#ixzz0Ks6aYFJG&C

U.S. to grant financial support to restore world heritage site in Nepal

2009-07-07T09:46:00.009-04:00

As reported in China View, "The United States Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), 2009, will offer financial support for the restoration of the intricately carved stone sculpture of Tusha Hiti and the Bhandarkhal Tank at the Patan Royal Palace in Nepali capital Kathmandu." The Kathmandu Valley became a World Heritage site in 1979, containing seven groups of monuments and buildings that illustrate the Nepali culture.

Keep reading: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/27/content_11610527.htm 06/27/content_11610527.htm

A new plan for Panama's Coiba National Park and World Heritage site

2009-07-07T09:23:00.006-04:00

Panama's Coiba Island became a National Park in 2004, and a year later, a World Heritage site. As the largest island along the Pacific coast of Central America, Coiba is home to endemic animal and plant species. After three years of planning to make the park a more effective protected area, Juan Maté, coordinator of marine technical agreements at the Smithsonian, with the support of UNESCO, presented the new management plan for the National Park on June 23rd.

Full Article:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/stri-anp062609.php

How Many WH Sites are enough?

2009-06-03T08:12:00.002-04:00

In this article, "Everyone Wins a Prize", the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the growing number of World Heritage Sites which could reach 1,000 within the next couple of years. How many are enough?

Click here to find out.

Treasures Without Tourists

2009-05-15T12:15:00.002-04:00

To see some of the most spectacular spots on earth before the tour buses arrive, visit the sites being considered for World Heritage designation. Three gems in China's Yunnan province. Click on this link for more information.

2009-04-22T08:16:00.005-04:00

Ireland's New World Heritage Tentative List

The Irish Times [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0420/1224245022487.html] reports that Ireland's government has submitted a new roster of candidate properties it intends to nominate to the UNESCO World Heritage List in the coming years. The new tentative list supersedes the first such Irish list which included 10 properties that were submitted the World Heritage Committee in 1992, a year after joining the World Heritage Convention. Two properties from the earlier list were successfully inscribed as World Heritage Sites.
The World Heritage Committee's Operational Guidelines require countries to revise their tentative lists at least once every 10 years. In 2008, the
United States concluded a 2-year effort to develop its new tentative list of 14 candidate properties [http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/TL_List.doc].

2009-04-21T07:51:00.006-04:00

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, in Collinsville, Illinois, is located on the Mississippi River floodplain, across from St. Louis.

This site was first inhabited by Indians of the Late Woodland Culture about AD 700.

It became a World Heritage Site in 1982.