heritage

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is sending a mission next week to the Incan archaeological ruin of Machu Picchu in Peru amid mounting concern about the conservation of the World Heritage Site as tourist numbers increase and urban development encroaches.

Giant panda sanctuaries in China, a tequila-producing area in Mexico, a millennia-old irrigation system in Oman and renaissance palaces in Italy are among 18 new sites admitted to the World Heritage List of humanity’s outstanding natural and cultural legacy, bringing to total to 830, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today.

The United Nations World Heritage Committee has opened its 30th session in Vilnius, Lithuania, to pick new candidates to join a list that already includes sites as unique and diverse as the wilds of East Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the baroque cathedrals of Latin America.

The United Nations Foundation and Expedia, Inc., one of the world's leading travel services companies, today announced the launch of the World Heritage Alliance, an innovative joint initiative to promote sustainable tourism and awareness of World Heritage sites and communities around the world.

With 20 countries already ratifying a treaty to protect the world’s oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, craftsmanship and knowledge of nature, the so-called Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is on track to enter into force next year, according to the latest United Nations update.

Biblical settlement mounds in Israel, a museum city in Albania, a 3,000-year-old necropolis in Italy and a sacred grove dotted with shrines in Nigeria are among 17 sites newly inscribed on the United Nations list of places to be preserved as part of the heritage of humankind.

A two-billion-year-old meteorite dome in South Africa, a fossil-rich valley in Egypt and in Norway two of the planet’s longest and deepest fjords are among seven natural sites newly inscribed on the United Nations World Heritage List.

Three United Nations World Heritage sites – the fabled city of Timbuktu in Mali, the Greco-Roman archaeological site of Butrint in Albania, and Sangay National Park in Ecuador – have been removed from the endangered list thanks to improvements in their preservation.

United Nations efforts to preserve the world’s cultural and natural heritage, from endangered mountain gorillas to the ruined cities of ancient civilizations, has received a fresh boost from Chinese space technology.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will use state-of-the-art space technology to help it conserve World Heritage sites, monitor biosphere reserves and mitigate natural hazards such as the recent Indian Ocean tsunami under a landmark agreement with the United States space agency.