Australia resistant to World Heritage in Danger listing? Yes, but … a response to James, Hamman, and Hölleland (2025)

UNESCO was established after the World War II at a time of major reconstruction efforts. In the overall context of growing conflicts and intentional destruction in the twenty-first century, new debates and actions by the international community on “reconstruction” of cultural heritage in different contexts emerged. The paper reviews international doctrine and debates by the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee of the 1972 World Heritage Convention following the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan (Afghanistan). The intentional destruction of this important heritage site let also to actions by the international community and to the development of new legal instruments. The paper further retraces the history of the inscription of the site, which was at the time of the destruction not included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In 2003 the World Heritage Committee inscribed the valley on both the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger as a World Heritage cultural landscape: the “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley.” Finally, new and emerging debates around rehabilitation and reconstruction are highlighted.

Geohazards pose significant threats to cultural and natural heritage worldwide. In the UK, only 1 out of 29 UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites has been inscribed on the list of World Heritage in Danger, whilst it is widely accepted that many more could be affected by geohazards. In this paper we set out the foundations of a methodological approach to analyse geological, geohazard and remote sensing data available at the British Geological Survey to retrieve an overview of geohazards affecting the UK WHL sites. The Castles and Town Walls (constructed in the time of King Edward I) in Gwynedd in north Wales are used as test sites to showcase the methodology for geohazard assessment at the scale of individual property also to account for situations of varied geology and local topography across multiproperty WHL sites. How such baseline geohazard assessment can be combined with space-borne radar interferometry (InSAR) data is showcased for the four UNESCO WHL sites located in Greater London. Our analysis feeds into the innovative contribution that the JPI-CH project PROTHEGO ‘PROTection of European cultural HEritage from GeOhazards’ (www.prothego.eu) is making towards mapping geohazards in the 400+ WHL sites of Europe by exploiting non-invasive remote sensing methods and surveying technologies.

World Heritage Convention at Fifty Years Old:Shifting to Outstanding Heritage Management Practices Eugene Jo (bio) and Webber Ndoro (bio) KEYWORDS UNESCO, World Heritage Convention Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. The 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in Baku, Azerbaijan, 1 Jul 2019. © Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan/M. Ragimov. [End Page 250] The World Heritage label emanates from the 1972 UNESCO Convention. The Convention is the instrument that is mostly used for celebrating the world's heritage, of Outstanding Universal Value. To most governments it is seen as an instrument of recognition and an arena for competition among other countries. As an international convention, its most important decision-making body is the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee. The Committee is formulated of twenty-one States Parties elected at the General Assembly, generally serving for a four-year mandate. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is the Secretariat to the Convention. Experts, particularly the Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee, see the Convention as a tool to better practice the conservation and management of heritage, which is clearly the intention of the 1972 Convention. Much of these Advisory Bodies' discussions can be aligned to what Laurajane Smith has called "the Authorized Heritage Discourse."1 This is the notion of heritage as a professional (expert) vocabulary, which, by determining the rules of the game, determines what heritage is, what heritage is worth protecting, how it should be protected, and for whom.2 In 2021, thirty-four new sites were added to the World Heritage List, and one was removed because of the threats urban development posed to its conservation management (Liverpool–Maritime Mercantile City, UK). With 1,154 sites accumulated on the List over the past fifty years, there is probable cause to assume that at least twenty sites per year will continue to be added in the next decade. The annual meeting held online in July 2021 clearly indicated the current dynamics of the Committee and its various stakeholders, the States Parties of the Committee, the World Heritage Centre (the Secretariat) and the Advisory Bodies to the Committee. The increased politicization of the Committee over the past decade led to the formation of an ad hoc working group to establish a code of conduct. After more than two years of discussions, in 2021 at the Twenty-Third Session of the General Assembly of the World Heritage Convention, the Declaration of Principles to Promote International Solidarity and Cooperation for the Preservation of World Heritage was adopted as a nonbinding text.3 Though the Declaration is meant to apply for all actors involved with the Convention, the discussions were started essentially to address the conduct of States Parties. One illustration of the ongoing political tensions over the past ten years is the Committee's reactions to its Advisory Body's technical recommendations. The Committee has lauded science-based recommendations when they have been in favor of States Parties' interests and has vigorously challenged the legitimacy of those same recommendations when they have not. Although accusations of politicization of the Convention have persisted for [End Page 251] more than a decade, and have been described as detrimental to the credibility of the Committee, the intergovernmental—States Parties—DNA of UNESCO means that the organization and its deliberations will always be inherently political.4 The UNESCO Global Strategy, which calls upon the World Heritage List to be representative, balanced, and credible, is a problematic directive, considering the inherently political nature of the States Parties system.5 It is not clear how the objectives of the strategy are to be achieved: Is it through numbers per country or per region or even per area? What is the yardstick to indicate success or failure? UNESCO's own program Priority Africa cannot be judged apolitical. It is important for UNESCO to recognize that political issues will always dominate its deliberations. Hence, rather than denigrating the political nature of the Committee, the World Heritage Centre (WHC) needs to play a more active diplomatic role as Secretariat in ensuring that contentious issues between the States Parties and the Advisory Bodies are resolved prior to and between Committee meetings. This...

In the face of increasing frustration with the tepid, and largely feckless, national and international institutional responses to the growing threat of climate change, many governments, as well as non‐governmental actors, have either initiated or are exploring potential causes of action in judicial and quasi‐judicial fora. This article explores one of these recent actions, the petitions before the World Heritage Committee requesting listing of several sites listed as World Heritage Sites under the World Heritage Convention on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The article explores the contours of the petitions filed to the Committee, the potential implications of listing of sites threatened by climate change on the List of World Heritage in Danger and the merits of the legal arguments advanced in opposition to such listings.

1. Introduction: Cultural Landscapes: Twenty-First Century Conservation Opportunities and Challenges Ken Taylor, Archer St Clair, and Nora J. Mitchell Part I: Reflections on Past and Future Directions 2. World Heritage Cultural Landscapes 1992-2012 Mechtild Rossler 3. Sustaining the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage Cultural Landscape Susan Denyer 4. Entre chien et loup: World Heritage Cultural Landscapes on the Fortieth Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention Christina Cameron 5. Opportunities for Integration of Cultural and Natural Heritage Perspectives Under the World Heritage Convention: Towards Connected Practice Leticia Leitao and Tim Badman Part II: Community Stewardship and Diverse Values 6. Stewardship of Protected Landscapes by Communities: Diverse Landscapes, Diverse Governance Models Jessica Brown 7. The Interrelationships of Land, Culture and Heritage: The Gullah Geechee Communities of the Southeastern United States Elizabeth Brabec & Cari Goetcheus 8. Ecological and Socio-Cultural Resilience in Managing Traditional Sacred Landscapes in the Coastal Savannah Ecosystem of Ghana George Ortsin 9. Cultural Landscapes: Message from our Ancestors Danil Mamyev Part III: New Approaches and Policy Frameworks: The Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) 10. Historic Urban Landscape: a new UNESCO Tool for a Sustainable Future, Patricia O'Donnell 11. Applying a Cultural Landscape Approach to the Urban Context Julian Smith 12. Asian Theoretical and Best-Practice Framework for the Historic Urban Landscape: Heritage for the Future Ron Van Oers and Ken Taylor Part IV: Confronting the Everyday Challenge of Cultural Landscape Management 13. Cultural Landscape Management Practice: Some Australian Case Studies Jane Lennon 14. Lessons in Large Landscape Management Brenda Barrett 15. Innovations in Managing National Park Service Cultural Landscapes: Sustaining Historic and Traditional Uses Susan Dolan 16. Val de Loire Patrimoine Mondial (France): The Management Process of a Living Cultural Landscape Myriam Laidet 17. Traditional Knowledge: An Innovative Contribution to Landscape Management Guillermo Rodriguez-Navarro Part V: Climate Change and Global Transformation: Sustaining Cultural Landscapes for the Future 18. Climate Change Challenges and Cultural Landscape Viability Robert Z Melnick 19. Discursive Heritage: Sustaining Andean Cultural Landscapes Amidst Environmental Change Fausto Sarmiento and Xavier Viteri 20. Climate and the Transformation of Landscapes: Building and Strengthening Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Institutions to Manage Threats to Cultural Landscapes Mervn Tano 21. The Conservation of Human Responses to Natural Hazards and Disasters James K Mitchell 22. Gardens of the Jafr (Rasht Valley, Tajikistan) as a Model of Sustaining Cultural Landscapes for Future Generations Mirzoshoh Akobirov

This article highlights the widespread use of listing as a tool in environmental protection, drawing attention to various types of lists established under international legal instruments. It provides statistical data on properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger and analyzes the historical context of its emergence. Particular attention is given to the pivotal role of the international campaign to rescue the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel and the Sanctuary of Isis on Philae Island, which significantly contributed to the establishment of the global system for the protection of World Heritage. The legal foundations for inclusion on the List, as set out in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, are examined. The article underscores the critical importance of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Convention, offering a retrospective analysis of their provisions regarding the inscription of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Special emphasis is placed on the decisions of a general nature adopted by the World Heritage Committee, which play a key role in shaping policy in this area, as well as on the technical and methodological documents developed by its advisory bodies. The evolution of the principle of state consent in the inscription process is explored, along with the circumstances that prompted a shift in approach. The article discusses instances where individual states strongly opposed the designation of sites on their territory as “in danger.” It also analyzes the practice of inscription based on the occurrence of specific conditions outlined by the World Heritage Committee, identifying the criteria used to assess the expected state of conservation of a property and the development of corrective action plans. Additionally, the article highlights the potential for financial institutions, including those in the banking sector, to suspend funding for high-risk projects that could lead to a site being placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Ultimately, the Author concludes that a realistic assessment of the List's potential is required, one that takes into account the actual state of the international regulatory framework governing World Heritage conservation.

This paper reviews one of the most important evolutions in the history of the 1972 UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention), namely, the interaction between culture and nature and the development of the cultural landscape categories. The World Heritage Convention currently covers 812 sites in 137 countries and is with 181 States Parties the most universal international legal instrument in heritage conservation. Among the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, 53 sites are recognized cultural landscapes focusing on the outstanding interaction between people and their environment. The paper further explains key case studies from World Heritage cultural landscapes from all regions of the world and highlights the innovations in the Convention's implementation through the landscape approach, particularly focusing on the management of complex properties involving local communities and indigenous people. The paper also outlines links to other international and regional Conventions and concludes with a future outlook of the landscape programme.

The paper explores the role of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in safeguarding natural and cultural heritage, with a specific focus on sites facing armed conflict. The Convention acts as a global mechanism for the protection and conservation of sites with Outstanding Universal Value. The study investigates the use of ‘soft power’ and ‘nudging’ strategies by the World Heritage Committee to facilitate the restoration of World Heritage Sites facing threats, particularly in the Global South. The analysis is based on the examination of 32 natural sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 1984, nine of which are in the Global South and faced with armed conflict. Case studies illustrate how armed conflicts impact biodiversity and the steps taken to recover these sites. The study emphasises the soft power of the World Heritage Convention, backed by diplomatic ties and financial aid, as instrumental in achieving restoration. Nudging is observed in the strategic alignment of choices to encourage conservation efforts. The findings suggest that the World Heritage Committee’s influence extends beyond conservation, contributing to regional development, especially in the Global South. However, challenges persist, and the paper calls for a continuous evolution of the World Heritage Convention’s role in addressing conflicts, development, and climate change to ensure effective global heritage conservation.

The forty-fourth session of the World Heritage Committee, held online and with an extended agenda due to the ongoing pandemic, took place on 16–31 July and was hosted by China. This report will give an overview of developments since the previous session, changes to the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, and other key outcomes of the meeting. The World Heritage Committee reiterated its concern as to the impacts of the pandemic on World Heritage, although it made some positive observations as to certain achievements. It praised the continued efforts to enhance synergies between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) culture conventions and requested the World Heritage Centre to further strengthen these efforts in light of various challenges, including climate change impacts (Decision 44 COM 5A). It also called on the convention parties to actively engage with the Global Biodiversity Framework, emphasizing the important role of the World Heritage Convention in protecting biodiversity.

World Heritage cultural landscape is not well known as a cultural heritage category to most of tourists in China though it has made great contribution to tourism. This paper focuses on tourists' cognition of World Heritage cultural landscape through a case study on Mount Lu. It explores tourists' view on what are the values of Mount Lu as World Heritage, what did tourists experience and what is significant for them. It is argued that the cultural value of Mount Lu is hard to be perceived and understood by tourists, and the social and economic values of Mount Lu as World Heritage property are also ambiguous for tourists. It suggests the need to draw attention to look closely at the level of tourists' understanding of the historical, religious and cultural value of Mount Lu.

The case of Kakadu National Park has had an unusually large amount of time and expense devoted to it in meetings of the World Heritage Bureau and the World Heritage Committee since 1997. Major controversy arose following the announcement that a new uranium mine would be developed at Jabiluka, located in an enclave surrounded by the World Heritage property, but not legally part of it. The explosive juxtaposition of issues concerning the trio of conservation of heritage values, uranium mining, and Aboriginal land rights inevitably led to strong reactions against the Federal Government's decision to allow mining, not least on the part of Australian and international non‐government organisations. It was felt that the mining development would jeopardise the integrity of the key values for which Kakadu had been inscribed on the World Heritage List. This paper attempts to unravel some of the strands of the ensuing debate — to at least begin to deconstruct the debate — that saw Kakadu almost placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. This is an important task to attempt because there were many undercurrents to the publicly reported debate, and a large degree of ‘reading between the lines’ is needed to interpret official records of meetings adequately. The paper also attempts to throw some light on the forceful opposition to such a move on the part of the Australian Government, based in large part on its underlying developmentalist philosophy, and at a time when it was giving less than wholehearted support to many international agreements to which Australia is a signatory. Finally, it is hoped that an insight into the workings of the World Heritage Convention and its supporting bodies will be gained.

Climate change is increasingly threatening World Heritage (WH) properties and their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). Climate change impacts the attributes that collectively contribute to the OUV; these attributes can be natural (e.g., seagrass) or cultural (e.g., monuments). A recent UNESCO report showed that seagrass habitats within WH properties are estimated to hold 25% of the global seagrass blue carbon asset. Globally, seagrass habitats provide a wide range of benefits to adjacent ecosystems and coastal human communities, yet they have been declining due to direct anthropogenic and climate change stressors. However, the UNESCO report did not provide any information about the relative importance of the attribute “seagrass habitats” toward the OUV and associated communities of WH properties, nor about their conservation status. This study builds upon this previous work by assessing the relative importance of seagrass habitats toward the values of WH properties and by reviewing the current knowledge about the conservation status, threats, monitoring, and management of seagrass habitats within WH properties. Seagrass was identified as an attribute of Very High or High importance to 9 of 28 WH properties. Through analysis of UNESCO documents and scientific literature, we highlight the lack of research, monitoring, and management instruments addressing the protection of seagrass from climate change impacts within these 28 WH properties. Notably, climate change threats to WH seagrass habitats are poorly addressed within WH documentation. The insufficient analysis and reporting of climate impacts on seagrass within WH properties point to an underestimation of the value of this marine ecosystem broadly.

UNESCO was the first United Nations agency to deal with landscapes at a global scale, notably through the World Heritage Convention. In 1992, Cultural Landscapes’ became a new category on the World Heritage List combining works of nature and of humankind: cultural landscapes often illustrate a specific relation between people and nature and can reflect techniques of sustainable land use, fostering strong links between culture and sustainable development. Initiatives such as the UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize highlight outstanding examples of safeguarding activities at the world’s major cultural landscapes and offer opportunities to share good practices and create synergies. Cultural landscapes face numerous threats across the world, and especially in Asia, with its growing infrastructure development and urbanisation. This article shares some of the knowledge and experience garnered by UNESCO through its conservation and management activities at cultural landscapes in Asia (Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Silk Roads heritage corridors) and highlights the urgent need for a cultural-historical-natural territory approach to address the pressing challenges for the conservation of Cultural Landscapes in Asia. Finally, the article advocates for a strong focus on the peoples and communities that inhabit these territories and their involvement at all stages.

In 2023, the historic center of Odesa was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger. In this regard, state and local governments must take certain actions required by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. They are described in particular in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It is also necessary to comply with the requirements of national legislation. According to Articles 37-1 and 37-2 of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Cultural Heritage”, a World Heritage Site has the legal status of a national monument. Since the Historic Center of Odesa World Heritage Site is an ensemble-type urban spatial object, it is recommended to consider it as a territory with the status of a nationally significant monument with the inclusion of such a monument in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine. It is also necessary to adjust the Historical and Architectural Reference Plan of Odesa (hereinafter referred to as the “HARP”), which is part of the city's General Plan. The boundaries and modes of use of the monument's territory are determined by scientific and project documentation based on the results of the research. Currently, such scientific and project documentation has not been developed. The article is devoted to the identification of priority measures and studies that should form the basis for the implementation of the above procedures and the development of the necessary scientific and project documentation. The conclusion states that the necessary first step in the procedures for developing a Conservation and Management Plan for a UNESCO property should be a scientific and technical inventory of the historic buildings within the defined boundaries of the UNESCO property and its buffer zone. The quality of such work is necessary for the quality development of scientific and project documentation for determining the modes of use of the World Heritage Site and its buffer zone. The scientific and technical inventory of historic buildings should be carried out on a quarterly basis, with the main characteristics of the historical, architectural, architectural and artistic value of buildings, their technical condition, etc. The quality of such work depends on adherence to the principles of subsidiarity, participation, community involvement, and the use of modern research methods and tools.

Global overview of the geological hazard exposure and disaster risk awareness at world heritage sites