Call for case studies, deadline 30 April 2021: UNESCO World Heritage Cities Forum
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2266
The World Heritage Cities Programme is calling for case studies of Innovative Actions implementing the approach of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL Recommendation) , integrating heritage conservation with sustainable urban development, in World Heritage cities. The selected case studies will be presented during the World Heritage Cities Forum 2021, which will take place online this summer (dates will be announced shortly), and will serve to prompt a ...
The Republic of Korea Pledges 6 million USD for World Heritage-related activities in Asia and the Pacific
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2263
On 17 March 2021, the Director-General of UNESCO received, via the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea to UNESCO, a letter from Mr KIM Hyun-mo, Administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea, announcing the creation of a new Framework Agreement to support extra-budgetary projects related to World Heritage in the Asia and the Pacific region.
UNESCO and its World Heritage Centre enjoys a very fruitful cooperation with the Government of the Republic of ...
Call for applications for the 3rd Edition of the Mediterranean Climate Change Adaptation Awards
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2264
The call for applications for the 3rd Edition of the Mediterranean Climate Change Adaptation Awards is now open until 15 April 2021.
This call was launched by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean and UNEP MAP Plan Bleu, in the frame of the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement last 20th January. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in June 2021 during the European Climate Change Adaptation ...
Monitoring World Heritage site closures
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2103
Monitoring World Heritage site closures
Introduction to the global map on the closure of World Heritage sites due to Covid-19 and analysis.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many governments have taken measures to restrict movements of people and access to certain areas.
This includes the closure of natural and cultural World Heritage sites in the 167 countries they are located in. Please consider the following when reviewing the map:
The World Heritage Convention has been ratified ...
Commemorating 20 years since the destruction of two Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2253
The tragic destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in March 2001, which was broadcast across the globe, led to a global recognition of the need to protect cultural heritage at risk.
The empty niches of the giant Buddhas in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan are a perpetual reminder of our duty to protect cultural heritage, and what future generations stand to lose if we do not. Today, these niches are inscribed on the World Heritage List as part of the "Cultural Landscape and ...
UNESCO and German Ministry support tourism recovery from COVID-19
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2262
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has provided UNESCO with 2 million euros to address some of the immediate socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on tourism and heritage. The project aims to support UNESCO's efforts to accelerate the recovery, to protect livelihoods and to transform the sectors to become more inclusive and sustainable.
Working in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the project ...
Happy International Women's Day
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2261
Each year, International Women's Day is the occasion to celebrate the role of women and encourage gender equality in everything that we do. 
Women play a crucial role in managing World Heritage sites. To mention just a few, there are Tania Zaven, site manager of Byblos, Christina Sinclair, site manager of Edinburgh, and Beverly Wade, national focal point for the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, all doing little-known and fantastic work at preserving sites in often difficult ...
World Wildlife Day, 3 March 2021: Forests and Livelihoods
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2256
Today is World Wildlife Day with the theme: "Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet," as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forest and forest-adjacent areas. This aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 13 and 15, and their wide-ranging ...
UNESCO and World Tourism Organization collaborate on cultural tourism recovery guidelines
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2260
New guidelines developed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in cooperation with UNESCO outline how tourism and culture stakeholders can work together to support the inclusive recovery of cultural tourism, as countries around the world respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The publication, entitled UNWTO Inclusive Recovery Guide, Issue 2: Cultural Tourism, draws on the insights and expertise of the two UN agencies to analyse the impact of the pandemic on their respective ...
New research demonstrates crucial role of World Heritage marine sites in fighting climate change
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2258
Last week, UNESCO released the first global scientific assessment of its World Heritage marine sites' blue carbon ecosystems, highlighting the critical environmental value of these habitats. While these sites represent less than 1% of the world's ocean, they host at least 21% of the world's blue carbon ecosystem area, and 15% of the world's blue carbon assets. 
Over the last decade, scientists have discovered that seagrass meadows, tidal marshes, and mangroves, ...
