A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area
which is selected by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
as having cultural, historical, scientific
or other form of significance, and is legally
protected by international treaties.
The sites are judged important to the collective
interests of humanity.
To be selected, a World Heritage Site must
be an already classified landmark, unique
in some respect as a geographically and historically
identifiable place having special cultural
or physical significance (such as an ancient
ruin or historical structure, building, city,
complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument,
mountain, or wilderness area).
It may signify a remarkable accomplishment
of humanity, and serve as evidence of our
intellectual history on the planet.The sites
are intended for practical conservation for
posterity, which otherwise would be subject
to risk from human or animal trespassing,
unmonitored/uncontrolled/unrestricted access,
or threat from local administrative negligence.
Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected
zones.
The 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
their General Assembly.The programme catalogues,
names, and conserves sites of outstanding
cultural or natural importance to the common
culture and heritage of humanity.
Under certain conditions, listed sites can
obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund.
The program began with the Convention Concerning
the Protection of the World's Cultural and
Natural Heritage, which was adopted by the
General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November
1972.
Since then, 193 state parties have ratified
the convention, making it one of the most
widely recognized international agreements
and the world's most popular cultural program.
As of July 2018, a total of 1,092 World Heritage
Sites (845 cultural, 209 natural, and 38 mixed
properties) exist across 167 countries.
Italy, with 54 sites, has the most of any
country, followed by China (53), Spain (47),
France (44), Germany (44), India (37), and
Mexico (35).
== History ==
In 1954, the government of Egypt decided to
build the new Aswan High Dam, whose resulting
future reservoir would eventually inundate
a large stretch of the Nile valley containing
cultural treasures of ancient Egypt and ancient
Nubia.
In 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan
requested UNESCO to assist their countries
to protect and rescue the endangered monuments
and sites.
In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched
an appeal to the member states for an International
Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.
This appeal resulted in the excavation and
recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery
of thousands of objects, as well as the salvage
and relocation to higher ground of a number
of important temples, the most famous of which
are the temple complexes of Abu Simbel and
Philae.
The campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered
a success.
As tokens of its gratitude to countries which
especially contributed to the campaign's success,
Egypt donated four temples: the Temple of
Dendur was moved to the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York City, the Temple of Debod
was moved to the Parque del Oeste in Madrid,
the Temple of Taffeh was moved to the Rijksmuseum
van Oudheden in the Netherlands, and the Temple
of Ellesyia to Museo Egizio in Turin.The project
cost $80 million, about $40 million of which
was collected from 50 countries.
The project's success led to other safeguarding
campaigns: saving Venice and its lagoon in
Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan,
and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia.
UNESCO then initiated, with the International
Council on Monuments and Sites, a draft convention
to protect the common cultural heritage of
humanity.
=== Convention and background ===
The United States initiated the idea of cultural
conservation with nature conservation.
The White House conference in 1965 called
for a "World Heritage Trust" to preserve "the
world's superb natural and scenic areas and
historic sites for the present and the future
of the entire world citizenry".
The International Union for Conservation of
Nature developed similar proposals in 1968,
and they were presented in 1972 to the United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment
in Stockholm.
Under the World Heritage Committee, signatory
countries are required to produce and submit
periodic data reporting providing the World
Heritage Committee with an overview of each
participating nation's implementation of the
World Heritage Convention and a "snapshot"
of current conditions at World Heritage properties.
A single text was agreed on by all parties,
and the "Convention Concerning the Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage"
was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO
on 16 November 1972.
The Convention came into force on 17 December
1975.
As of May 2017, it has been ratified by 193
states parties, including 189 UN member states
plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue,
and the State of Palestine.
Only four UN member states have not ratified
the Convention: Liechtenstein, Nauru, Somalia
and Tuvalu.
== Nominating process ==
A country must first list its significant
cultural and natural sites; the result is
called the Tentative List.
A country may not nominate sites that have
not been first included on the Tentative List.
Next, it can place sites selected from that
list into a Nomination File.
The Nomination File is evaluated by the International
Council on Monuments and Sites and the World
Conservation Union.
These bodies then make their recommendations
to the World Heritage Committee.
The Committee meets once per year to determine
whether or not to inscribe each nominated
property on the World Heritage List and sometimes
defers or refers the decision to request more
information from the country which nominated
the site.
There are ten selection criteria – a site
must meet at least one of them to be included
on the list.
== Selection criteria ==
Up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural
heritage and four criteria for natural heritage.
In 2005, this was modified so that there is
now only one set of ten criteria.
Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal
value" and meet at least one of the ten criteria.
These criteria have been modified or/amended
several times since their creation.
=== Cultural criteria ===
"represents a masterpiece of human creative
genius and cultural significance"
"exhibits an important interchange of human
values, over a span of time, or within a cultural
area of the world, on developments in architecture
or technology, monumental arts, town-planning,
or landscape design"
"to bear a unique or at least exceptional
testimony to a cultural tradition or to a
civilization which is living or which has
disappeared"
"is an outstanding example of a type of building,
architectural, or technological ensemble or
landscape which illustrates a significant
stage in human history"
"is an outstanding example of a traditional
human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which
is representative of a culture, or human interaction
with the environment especially when it has
become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible
change"
"is directly or tangibly associated with events
or living traditions, with ideas, or with
beliefs, with artistic and literary works
of outstanding universal significance"
=== Natural criteria ===
"contains superlative natural phenomena or
areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic
importance"
"is an outstanding example representing major
stages of Earth's history, including the record
of life, significant on-going geological processes
in the development of landforms, or significant
geomorphic or physiographic features"
"is an outstanding example representing significant
on-going ecological and biological processes
in the evolution and development of terrestrial,
fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems,
and communities of plants and animals"
"contains the most important and significant
natural habitats for in-situ conservation
of biological diversity, including those containing
threatened species of outstanding universal
value from the point of view of science or
conservation"
=== Legal status of designated sites ===
UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site
provides prima facie evidence that such culturally
sensitive sites are legally protected pursuant
to the Law of War, under the Geneva Convention,
its articles, protocols and customs, together
with other treaties including the Hague Convention
for the Protection of Cultural Property in
the Event of Armed Conflict and international
law.Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates:
"Article 53.
PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES
OF WORSHIP.
Without prejudice to the provisions of the
Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural
Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of
14 May 1954,' and of other relevant international
instruments, it is prohibited:
(a) To commit any acts of hostility directed
against the historic monuments, works of art
or places of worship which constitute the
cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples;
(b) To use such objects in support of the
military effort;
(c) To make such objects the object of reprisals."
== 
Extensions and other modifications ==
A country may request to extend or reduce
the boundaries, modify the official name,
or change the selection criteria of one of
its already listed sites.
Any proposal for a significant boundary change
or modify the site's selection criteria must
be submitted as if it were a new nomination,
including first placing it on the Tentative
List and then onto the Nomination File.A request
for a minor boundary change, one that does
not have a significantly impact on the extent
of the property or affect its "outstanding
universal value", is also evaluated by the
advisory bodies before being sent to the Committee.
Such proposals can be rejected by either the
advisory bodies or the Committee if they judge
it to be a significant change instead of a
minor one.Proposals to change the site's official
name is sent directly to the Committee.
== Endangered sites ==
A site may be added to the List of World Heritage
in Danger if there are conditions that threaten
the characteristics for which the landmark
or area was inscribed on the World Heritage
List.
Such problems may involve armed conflict and
war, natural disasters, pollution, poaching,
or uncontrolled urbanization or human development.
This danger list is intended to increase international
awareness of the threats and to encourage
counteractive measures.
Threats to a site can be either proven imminent
threats or potential dangers that could have
adverse effects on a site.The state of conservation
for each site on the danger list is reviewed
on a yearly basis, after which the committee
may request additional measures, delete the
property from the list if the threats have
ceased or consider deletion from both the
List of World Heritage in Danger and the World
Heritage List.Only two sites have ever been
delisted: the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman
and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany.
The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was directly delisted
in 2007, instead of first being put on the
danger list, after the Omani government decided
to reduce the protected area's size by 90
percent.
The Dresden Elbe Valley was first placed on
the danger list in 2006 when the World Heritage
Committee decided that plans to construct
the Waldschlösschen Bridge would significantly
alter the valley's landscape.
In response, Dresden City Council attempted
to stop the bridge's construction, but after
several court decisions allowed the building
of the bridge to proceed, the valley was removed
from the World Heritage List in 2009.The first
global assessment to quantitatively measure
threats to Natural World Heritage sites found
that 63 percent of sites have been damaged
by increasing human pressures including encroaching
roads, agriculture infrastructure and settlements
over the last two decades.
These activities endanger Natural World Heritage
sites and could compromise their unique values.
Of the Natural World Heritage sites that contain
forest, 91 percent of those experienced some
loss since the year 2000.
Many Natural World Heritage sites are more
threatened than previously thought and require
immediate conservation action.
== Statistics ==
There are 1092 World Heritage Sites located
in 167 states.
Of these, 845 are cultural, 209 are natural
and 38 are mixed properties.
The World Heritage Committee has divided the
world into five geographic zones which it
calls regions: Africa, Arab states, Asia and
the Pacific, Europe and North America, and
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Russia and the Caucasus states are classified
as European, while Mexico and the Caribbean
are classified as belonging to the Latin America
& Caribbean zone.
The UNESCO geographic zones also give greater
emphasis on administrative, rather than geographic
associations.
Hence, Gough Island, located in the South
Atlantic, is part of the Europe & North America
region because the government of the United
Kingdom nominated the site.
The table below includes a breakdown of the
sites according to these zones and their classification:
*The properties "Uvs Nuur Basin" and "Landscapes
of Dauria" (Mongolia, Russian Federation)
are trans-regional properties located in Europe
and Asia and the Pacific region.
They are counted here in the Asia and the
Pacific region.
*The property "The Architectural Work of Le
Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to
the Modern Movement" (Argentina, Belgium,
France, Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland)
is a trans-regional property with component
sites located in three regions - Europe and
North America, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin
America and the Caribbean.
It is counted here in Europe and North America.
=== Countries with fifteen or more sites ===
Countries with fifteen or more World Heritage
Sites, as of July 2018.
== Consequences ==
Despite the successes of World Heritage listing
in promoting conservation, the UNESCO administered
project has attracted criticism from some
for perceived under-representation of heritage
sites outside Europe, disputed decisions on
site selection and adverse impact of mass
tourism on sites unable to manage rapid growth
in visitor numbers.A sizable lobbying industry
has grown around the awards because World
Heritage listing has the potential to significantly
increase tourism revenue from sites selected.
Site listing bids are often lengthy and costly,
putting poorer countries at a disadvantage.
Eritrea's efforts to promote Asmara is one
example.In 2016, the Australian government
was reported to have successfully lobbied
for Great Barrier Reef conservation efforts
to be removed from a UNESCO report titled
'World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing
Climate'.
The Australian government's actions were in
response to their concern about the negative
impact that an 'at risk' label could have
on tourism revenue at a previously designated
UNESCO World Heritage site.A number of listed
World Heritage locations such as George Town,
Penang, and Casco Viejo, Panama, have struggled
to strike the balance between the economic
benefits of catering to greatly increased
visitor numbers and preserving the original
culture and local communities that drew the
recognition.
== See also ==
GoUNESCO
Index of conservation articles
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
Memory of the World Programme
