History[edit]

See also: World Heritage Committee

Convention concerning the Protection of the World's Cultural and

Natural Heritage
Signed

16 November 1972

Location

Paris, France

Effective

17 December 1975

Condition 20 ratifications
Ratifiers

191 (187 UN member states plus the

Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue and
Palestine)

Depositar Director-General of the United

y
Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
Language Arabic, English, French, Russian
s
and Spanish

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 in
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.[6] 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, ended in 1980, was considered a complete and spectacular
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.[7]

The project cost US$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[edit]

The United States initiated the idea of 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. 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 June 2014, it
has been ratified by 191 states, including 187 UN member states plus the
Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, and the Palestinian territories.[8]

Nominating process[edit]

A country must first inventory its significant ethical and natural properties;
the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate
properties that have not been included on the Tentative List. Next, it can
place properties selected from this 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
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.[citation needed]

Selection criteria[edit]

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
one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal
value" and meet at least one of the ten criteria. [9]

Cultural criteria[edit]

Site #252: Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site

I
II

III
IV

"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

VI

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"
[10]

Natural criteria[edit]

Site #156: Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site

Site #274: Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site

VII
VIII

IX

"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[edit]

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: [11]
(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."