World Heritage Site

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a forest,

mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that
is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage
Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee, composed of 21 state parties[1] which are elected by
their General Assembly for a four-year term. [2] A World Heritage
Site is a place of either cultural or physical significance.

The program catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding

cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.
Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the
World Heritage Fund. The programme was founded with the Logo of the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee
Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and
Natural Heritage,[3] which was adopted by the General Conference
of UNESCO on November 16, 1972. Since then, 186 state parties have ratified the convention.

As of 2009, 890 sites are listed: 689 cultural, 176 natural, and 25 mixed properties, in 148 states.[4][5]
Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites to date with 44 sites inscribed on the list.
UNESCO references each World Heritage Site with an identification number; but new inscriptions
often include previous sites now listed as part of larger descriptions. As a result, the identification
numbers exceed 1200 even though there are fewer on the list.

Each World Heritage Site is the property of the state on whose territory the site is located, but it is
considered in the interest of the international community to preserve each site.

Contents
1 History
1.1 Pre-convention
1.2 Convention and background
2 Nominating process
3 Selection criteria
3.1 Cultural criteria
3.2 Natural criteria
4 Statistics
5 Lists of World Heritage Sites
6 References
7 External links

History
Pre-convention
In 1954, the government of Egypt decided to build the Aswan Dam (Aswan
High Dam), an event that would flood a valley containing treasures of
ancient Egypt such as the Abu Simbel temples. UNESCO then launched a
worldwide safeguarding campaign. The Abu Simbel and Philae temples
were taken apart, moved to a higher location, and put back together piece Site #86: Memphis and
by piece.[6] its Necropolis, including
the Pyramids of Giza
The cost of the project was US$80 million, about $40 million of which was (Egypt).
collected from 50 countries. The project was regarded as a success, and 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.

Site #174: Historic

Convention and background
center of Florence
(Italy).
See also: World Heritage Committee

The United States initiated the idea of combining cultural conservation with
nature conservation. A 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 Human Environment in Stockholm. Site #202: Sigiriya (Sri
Lanka).
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.

Nominating process
A country must first take an inventory of its significant cultural and natural
properties. This is called the Tentative List, and is important because a Site #307: The Statue of
country may not nominate properties that have not already been included Liberty (United States).
on the Tentative List. Next, it can select a property from this list to place
into a Nomination File. The World Heritage Centre offers advice and help
in preparing this file.

At this point, the 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 Site #483: Chichen Itza
the decision to request more information from the country who nominated in Yucatán (Mexico).
the site. There are ten selection criteria - a site must meet at least one of
them to be included on the list.

Selection criteria
Until the end of 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four
criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so that there is only Site #540: Historic
one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal Centre of St. Petersburg
value" and meet at least one of the ten criteria. [7] and its suburbs (Russia).

Cultural criteria
I. "to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius";
II. "to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span
of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in Site #592: Borobudur in
architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or Central Java (Indonesia).
landscape design";
III. "to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural
tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has
disappeared";
IV. "to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural
or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a)
significant stage(s) in human history";
V. "to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement,
land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), Site #597: Horezu
or human interaction with the environment especially when it has Monastery in Horezu
become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change"; (Romania).
VI. "to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living
traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works
of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that
this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other
criteria.)

Natural criteria
Site #772: The Banaue
VII. "to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of Rice Terraces in the
exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance"; mountains of Ifugao
VIII. "to be outstanding examples representing major stages of (Philippines).
Earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going
geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant
geomorphic or physiographic features";
IX. "to be outstanding examples 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";
X. "to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for
in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those
Site #835: Medieval
containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the Town of Toru! (Poland).
point of view of science or conservation."
Statistics
See also: Table of World Heritage Sites by country

There are 890 World Heritage Sites located in 148 countries (state parties). Of these, 689 are cultural,
176 are natural and 25 are mixed properties. The World Heritage Committee has divided the countries
into five geographic zones: Africa, Arab States (composed of North Africa and the Middle East), Asia-
Pacific (includes Australia and Oceania), Europe & North America, and Latin America & the
Caribbean.

Russia and the Caucasus states are classified as European, while Mexico is 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:[8]

Zone Natural Cultural Mixed Total

Africa 33 42 3 78
Arab States 4 60 1 65
Asia-Pacific 48 129 9 186| [9]
Europe & North America 56 375 9 440
Latin America & Caribbean 35 83 3 121
Total 176 689 25 890

Lists of World Heritage Sites

List of World Heritage Sites in Africa
List of World Heritage Sites in the Americas
List of World Heritage Sites in the Arab States
List of World Heritage Sites in Asia and Australasia
List of World Heritage Sites in Europe
List of World Heritage Sites in danger
Former UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Table of World Heritage Sites by country
Wonders of the World

References
1. ^ According to the UNESCO World Heritage website, States Parties (http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/)
are countries that signed and ratified The World Heritage Convention (http://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/) .
As of November 2007, there are a total of 186 state parties.
2. ^ "The World Heritage Committee" (http://whc.unesco.org/en/comittee/) . UNESCO World Heritage Site.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/comittee/. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
3. ^ Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage
 (http://whc.unesco.org/archive/convention-en.pdf)
4. ^ World Heritage List (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list) , UNESCO World Heritage Sites official sites.
5. ^ Twenty-seven new sites inscribed (http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/453) , UNESCO World Heritage Sites
official sites.
6. ^ Brief History (http://whc.unesco.org/en/169/) , UNESCO World Heritage Sites official sites.
7. ^ "Criteria for Selection" (http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/) . World Heritage.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
8. ^ Stats (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/stat)
9. ^ The Uvs Nuur basin located in Russia and Mongolia is here included in Asia-Pacific zone.

External links
UNESCO World Heritage portal (http://whc.unesco.org) — Official website (English) and
(French)
The World Heritage List (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list) — Official searchable list of all
Inscribed Properties
KML file of the World Heritage List (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/kml) — Official KML
version of the list for Google Earth and NASA Worldwind
whc.unesco.org/en/forests (http://whc.unesco.org/en/forests) — Official overview of the
World Heritage Forest Program
Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
(http://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext) — Official 1972 Convention Text in 7 languages
The 1972 Convention at Law-Ref.org (http://law-ref.org/HERITAGE/index.html) —
Fully indexed and crosslinked with other documents
TIME magazine. The Oscars of the Environment - UNESCO World Heritage Site
(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1636166,00.html)
World Heritage Institute of Training and Research (http://www.whitrap.org/index.aspx?Nav=1) -
UNESCO category 2 institute devoting to World Heritage in Asia-Pacific region
www.greatarchaeology.com (http://www.greatarchaeology.com/heritage_sites.php) —
Commercial site of World Heritage 'Archaeological Places'
WHTour.org (http://www.world-heritage-tour.org) — World Heritage sites in panographies - 360
degree
World Heritage Site (http://www.worldheritagesite.org) — Private website of World Heritage
thesalmons.org's world heritage list (http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/world.heritage.html) —
Unofficial list with links and map of sites
WorldHeritageProject.org (http://www.worldheritageproject.org) — Photography, film, music and
other artistic expressions.
Friends of World Heritage (http://www.friendsofworldheritage.org/) — An non-profit
organization that works with UNESCO to identify projects that support local tourism enterprises
that can help alleviate poverty and conserve World Heritage sites.
Organization of World Heritage Cities (http://ovpm.org/?newlang=eng) — UNESCO-affiliated
organization dealing with urban sites only
VRheritage.org (http://www.vrheritage.org) — Documentation of World Heritage Sites (inactive
since 2002)
The World Heritage Sites at night (http://www.twanight.org/newTWAN/galleries.asp?
page=1&Sort=Gallery&Value=World%20Heritage%20Sites&des=1&bID=8)
World Heritage Magazine (http://www.worldheritage.tw) — Published by a non-profit
organization, in Chinese only

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Categories: World Heritage Sites
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