World Heritage Convention

The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by UNESCO's General Conference in Paris on 16 November 1972. Its origins joined two lines of conservation work: protecting cultural sites and conserving nature. The treaty recognizes that some cultural and natural properties have outstanding universal value and that their loss would impoverish the heritage of peoples beyond the country in which they are located. It provides a system of international cooperation and assistance to support States in identifying and conserving those properties, while recognizing the sovereignty of States over heritage within their territory.

The Convention defines cultural heritage to include monuments; groups of buildings; and sites, including works combining human activity and nature. Natural heritage includes significant physical and biological formations, geological or physiographical formations and habitats of threatened species, as well as natural sites of exceptional scientific, conservation or aesthetic value. States Parties identify and delineate properties on their territories. These definitions allow the framework to cover both built and archaeological places and important natural landscapes and ecosystems.

The Convention places the primary duty to identify, protect, conserve, present and transmit heritage to future generations on the State where the property is situated. States Parties are expected to integrate heritage protection into planning, establish appropriate services, support research and take legal, technical and financial measures. The treaty also recognizes an international duty to cooperate: States can provide assistance when requested, and the Convention provides a framework for collective support that complements, rather than replaces, national responsibility. Its system includes the World Heritage Committee and the World Heritage Fund, through which certain international assistance can be provided.

The World Heritage List brings together properties recognized as having outstanding universal value. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee uses ten selection criteria: six concerning cultural values and four concerning natural values, now presented as a single set. A property must meet at least one criterion. The criteria range from human creative achievement and cultural interchange to exceptional natural beauty, geological processes, ecological processes and biodiversity conservation. Selection also considers protection and management, and UNESCO identifies authenticity and integrity as important considerations. Inscription does not remove a State's sovereignty or its primary stewardship role.

The framework has evolved through the Committee's operational guidelines and decisions. UNESCO describes its strategic objectives as the Five Cs: credibility of the List, conservation, capacity-building, communication and communities. The addition of communities highlighted their role in implementing the Convention. The approach also recognizes cultural landscapes and the interaction between people and nature. Today, the treaty remains a basis for international cooperation on heritage threatened by conflict, disasters, urban development, climate change, pollution and unsustainable tourism.