World Heritage Site

The World Heritage emblem, used to identify properties protected by the World Heritage Convention[1]

World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity".[2]

To be selected, a World Heritage Site is nominated by its host country and determined by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to be a unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable, having a special cultural or physical significance, and to be under a sufficient system of legal protection. For example, World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities,[a] deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains or wilderness areas.[5][6]

A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humankind and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great natural beauty.[7] As of July 2024, a total of 1,223 World Heritage Sites (952 cultural, 231 natural and 40 mixed cultural and natural properties) exist across 168 countries. With 60 selected areas, Italy is the country with the most sites, followed by China with 59, and Germany with 54.[8]

The sites are intended for practical conservation for posterity, which otherwise would be subject to risk from human or animal trespassing, unmonitored, uncontrolled or unrestricted access, or threat from local administrative negligence. Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected zones.[2] The World Heritage Sites list is maintained by the international World Heritage Program administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 "states parties" that are elected by the United Nations General Assembly, and advised by reviews of international panels of experts in natural or cultural history, and education.[9]

The Program catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture and heritage of humankind. The programme began with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,[10] which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since then, 196 states have ratified the convention,[11] making it one of the most widely recognised international agreements and the world's most popular cultural programme.[12]

  1. ^ "World Heritage Emblem". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b "World Heritage". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020.
  3. ^ Hetter, Katia (16 June 2014). "Exploring the world's first 12 heritage sites". CNN. Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  4. ^ "World Heritage List (ordered by year)". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Ann Marie (2016). "Cultural Heritage & New Media: A Future for the Past". John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 15: 604–46. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2018 – via UIC Law Open Access Repository.
  6. ^ Allan, James R.; Kormos, Cyril; Jaeger, Tilman; Venter, Oscar; Bertzky, Bastian; Shi, Yichuan; MacKey, Brendan; Van Merm, Remco; Osipova, Elena; Watson, James E.M. (2018). "Gaps and opportunities for the World Heritage Convention to contribute to global wilderness conservation". Conservation Biology. 32 (1): 116–126. Bibcode:2018ConBi..32..116A. doi:10.1111/cobi.12976. PMID 28664996. S2CID 28944427.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference SelectionCriteria was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference WHList was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "The World Heritage Committee". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
  10. ^ "Convention Concerning the Protection of World's Cultural and Natural Heritage" (PDF). UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  11. ^ "States Parties – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  12. ^ Edmondson, Jordan & Prodan 2020, p. 144.


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