World Heritage Convention
The World Heritage Convention is an international agreement aimed at protecting cultural and natural sites of significant value, established on November 16, 1972. Initiated by the United States to honor the centenary of Yellowstone National Park, the convention encourages participating nations to identify, maintain, and preserve important sites within their borders as part of the universal heritage of humanity. By 2023, 187 nations had ratified the convention, resulting in over 900 sites being designated on the World Heritage List, including notable locations like the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.
Signatory nations nominate sites for inclusion, which are then evaluated by the World Heritage Committee, composed of representatives from 21 elected nations. This committee also identifies sites in danger due to natural disasters or conflicts. Each country maintains sovereignty over its sites while committing to their preservation, and the convention provides a framework for international cooperation, including technical assistance and funding through the World Heritage Fund. The convention promotes not only the conservation of these sites, but also their public awareness and appreciation, fostering a collective responsibility towards global heritage.
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Subject Terms
World Heritage Convention
THE CONVENTION: International agreement to protect designated sites of great cultural, historic, or natural value
DATE: Opened for signature on November 16, 1972
The World Heritage Convention promotes protection of the environment by obligating signatory nations to identify, maintain, and preserve important natural and cultural sites within their territories as part of the universal heritage of humanity.
The United States proposed the World Heritage Convention in 1972 to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of Yellowstone National Park and was the first nation to sign the convention when it was adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The convention—formally titled the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and National Heritage—essentially promotes the US national park concept worldwide. By the time of the convention’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 1997, nearly 150 nations had ratified the agreement and had placed more than five hundred sites on the World Heritage List. By the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, 187 nations had ratified the convention, and more than nine hundred cultural and natural sites had been named.
Nations that are signatories to the World Heritage Convention nominate sites within their own borders for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The nominations are reviewed by the World Heritage Committee, a body consisting of the representatives of twenty-one signatory nations; the representatives are elected by the General Assembly of the signatory nations. The committee also places sites threatened by natural disaster or civil strife on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
In signing the World Heritage Convention, nations pledge to identify, maintain, and preserve important natural and cultural sites within their territories as part of the universal heritage of humanity; they also pledge to promote and publicize these sites for worldwide public enlightenment. In addition, member nations assist one another with studies, advice, training, and equipment necessary to resolve problems, restore damaged areas, and establish programs to protect, preserve, and publicize the sites. The World Heritage Committee offers technical advice and monetary assistance through its World Heritage Fund. Individual nations also offer direct nation-to-nation assistance.
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must possess outstanding, universally recognized cultural or natural features. Sites include both human-made constructions and natural areas. Selected natural sites include areas that represent major stages in the earth’s evolutionary history, ongoing geological processes or biological evolution, or human interaction with the environment; that contain unique, rare, or superlative national phenomena; or that provide habitats for rare or endangered plants and animals.
Each signatory nation maintains sovereignty over its sites and is responsible for site maintenance and protection. Listed sites in a given country include those owned by the national government (such as national parks and national historic landmarks) as well as those owned by state or tribal governments, local governments, and private groups or individuals, with the owners pledging to protect their properties in perpetuity.
Among the sites included on the World Heritage List are the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India, Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, the Tower of London, and the massive Spanish fortifications at San Juan, Puerto Rico. North American sites include twenty in the United States; among these are Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, Everglades National Park in Florida, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois, Pueblo de Taos in New Mexico, and the Statue of Liberty in New York. On January 2023, the 50th Anniversary of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was held in Beijing, China.
Bibliography
Di Giovine, Michael A. The Heritage-scape: UNESCO, World Heritage, and Tourism. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2009.
"Forum on the 50th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention Held in Beijing." UNESCO, 13 Apr. 2023, whc.unesco.org/en/news/2547#. Accessed 23 July 2024.
Leask, Anna, and Alan Fyall, eds. Managing World Heritage Sites. Burlington, Mass.: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006.
McHugh, Lois. “World Heritage Convention and U.S. National Parks.” In American National Parks: Current Issues and Developments, edited by Rony Mateo. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Novinka Books, 2004.