Category Archives: Unesco

Unesco urged not to give heritage status to Thai park amid claims of Indigenous abuses

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UN human rights experts decry arrests and evictions of ethnic Karen from Kaeng Krachan national park

UN human rights experts have urged Unesco not to grant World Heritage Site status to a national park in Thailand, where they said Indigenous people are being arrested and evicted from their traditional lands.

The UN experts said in a statement: “This is an important precedent-setting case, and may influence policies on how Indigenous peoples’ rights are respected in protected areas across Asia.

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Stonehenge may be next UK site to lose world heritage status

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Britain is eroding global reputation for conserving its historic assets, culture bodies are warning

The UK is eroding its global reputation for conserving its “unparalleled” historic assets, culture bodies have warned, with Stonehenge expected to be next in line to lose its coveted World Heritage status after Liverpool.

Related: Unesco strips Liverpool of its world heritage status

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World Heritage Committee agrees not to place Great Barrier Reef on ‘in danger’ list

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Unesco says ‘the facts are the facts and the science is the science’ after its recommendation is ignored

The Great Barrier Reef will not be placed on a list of world heritage sites “in danger” after a global lobbying effort from Australia against the proposed listing.

The 21-country World Heritage Committee on Friday ignored a scientific assessment from the UN’s science and culture organisation, Unesco, that the reef was clearly in danger from climate change and so should be placed on the list.

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Unesco strips Liverpool of its world heritage status

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UN body says years of development have caused ‘irreversible loss’ to historic value of Victorian docks

Liverpool has been stripped of its coveted world heritage status after Unesco blamed years of development for an “irreversible loss” to the historic value of its Victorian docks.

The UN’s heritage body concluded at a meeting in China on Wednesday that the “outstanding universal value” of Liverpool’s waterfront had been destroyed by new buildings, including Everton football club’s new £500m stadium.

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Italy bans cruise ships from Venice lagoon after Unesco threat

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Vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes barred from lagoon from 1 August

Italy has banned cruise ships from the Venice lagoon in what appears to be a definitive move welcomed by anti-cruise ship campaigners.

“We finally seem to have got there,” said Tommaso Cacciari, the leader of No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships), an activist group that has been protesting against the vessels for more than a decade.

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Great Barrier Reef: leading scientists praise Unesco’s ‘in danger’ warning

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Group of reef and climate scientists say world heritage warning merited and Australia has not ‘pulled its weight on emissions’

Five of the world’s leading reef and climate scientists have thanked Unesco for recommending the Great Barrier Reef be listed as world heritage “in danger”, saying it was the right decision in part because Australia had not “pulled its weight” in reducing emissions.

The group of scientists, including the Australian professors Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Terry Hughes, wrote to the UN body on Thursday saying the recommendation to downgrade the 2,300-km reef system’s world heritage status was “the right decision”.

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Political ploys and an ocean jewel: what’s behind the UN’s ‘in danger’ warning for the Great Barrier Reef

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It’s not the first time the reef has faced the threat of an ‘in danger’ listing. But what does it mean and why is this time different?

The Australian government says it has been blindsided by a recommendation by official United Nations science advisers that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on the world heritage “in danger” list.

Australia’s ocean jewel is the world’s biggest coral reef system – celebrated and adored for its array of unique species and colourful corals, drawing tourists from around the world.

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Great Barrier Reef should be listed as ‘in danger’, Unesco recommends

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Australian government ‘stunned’ by recommendation and will strongly oppose draft decision, environment minister Sussan Ley says

The Great Barrier Reef should be placed on to a list of world heritage sites that are “in danger”, according to a recommendation from UN officials that urges Australia to take “accelerated action at all possible levels” on climate change.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says the world’s biggest coral reef system should be placed on the list at the world heritage committee meeting next month.

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‘We were deceived’: hundreds protest in Venice at return of giant cruise ships

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Ban on huge vessels passing St Mark’s Square proves to be temporary after liner docks in city for first time in 17 months

Anti-cruise ship campaigners in Venice claim they were “deceived” by the Italian government as hundreds protested against huge vessels docking in the historic city’s port on Saturday.

Residents were caught by surprise on Thursday when a cruise liner sailed into the lagoon city for the first time since the pandemic began, despite prime minister Mario Draghi’s government declaring that the ships would be banned from the historic centre. The 92,000 tonne ship MSC Orchestra collected 650 passengers before leaving for Bari, in southern Italy, on Saturday.

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Saunas to sourdough: Unesco updates culture heritage list

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Thirty-five entries from around the world added to 2020 list of national traditions

Sauna culture in Finland, sourdough making in Malta, Budima dancing in Zambia and a grass mowing competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s prestigious list of intangible cultural heritage.

The entries were among the 35 from around the world added to the list for 2020, and also included the tradition of playing the hunting horn, a status awarded jointly to Italy, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as the art of glass bead making.

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The Maradona and child: Naples honours its hero with nativity figurine

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A new addition to the Christmas scene in artisan shops shows city’s love for footballer

The southern Italian city of Naples usually enjoys a fervent lead-up to Christmas, with one street in particular – Via San Gregorio Armeno – buzzing with people buying handcrafted cribs and terracotta figurines for their nativity scenes at home.

There is also much anticipation each year over which new figurine they can buy. Traditionally, it was a shepherd or an animal that would join baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, but now it is usually a figurine of a personality of that year. Recently crafted statuettes include tributes to doctors and nurses who have worked throughout the pandemic as well as ones of the US president-elect Joe Biden and his deputy, Kamala Harris.

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Chad halts lake’s world heritage status request over oil exploration

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Exclusive: African state says it has agreements with oil companies in Lake Chad area

Chad has asked to suspend an application for world heritage site status for Lake Chad to explore oil and mining opportunities in the region, it can be revealed.

In a letter leaked to the Guardian, Chad’s tourism and culture minister wrote to Unesco, the body which awards the world heritage designation, asking to “postpone the process of registering Lake Chad on the world heritage list”.

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Erdoğan leads first prayers at Hagia Sophia museum reverted to mosque

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Turkish president recites Qur’an at monument as Greece declares day of mourning

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has led worshippers in the first prayers in Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia since his controversial declaration that the monument, which over the centuries has served as a cathedral, mosque and museum, would be turned back into a Muslim house of worship.

The Turkish leader and an entourage of senior ministers arrived for the service in the heart of Istanbul’s historic district on Friday afternoon, kneeling on new turquoise carpets while sail-like curtains covered the original Byzantine mosaics of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

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Court ruling paves way for Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia to revert to mosque

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Status of Unesco-listed 1,500-year-old building has been hotly debated for decades

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has formally converted Istanbul’s crowning architectural jewel, the Hagia Sophia, from a museum into a mosque – a politically charged decision that has drawn international criticism but delighted his conservative base.

Turkey’s highest administrative court, the council of state, paved the way for the move after it ruled unanimously on Friday to annul a 1934 cabinet decree that stripped the 1,500-year-old building of its religious status.

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Welsh slate mining landscape nominated as world heritage site

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Government backing raises hopes of preserving ‘place that roofed the world’


An extraordinary landscape shaped by many centuries of slate production has been nominated by the UK government for Unesco world heritage status, a distinction enjoyed by sites such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.

The production of slate in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, has left a landscape dotted with underground workings, terraces cut into hillsides, grey, towering tips and bright blue pools, all nestling within mountains and woodland.

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Unesco removes ‘racist’ Belgian carnival from heritage list

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Carnival of Aalst included parade float caricaturing Orthodox Jews

Unesco has removed an annual carnival in the Belgian city of Aalst from its heritage list over persistent charges of antisemitism.

In an unprecedented move, Unesco’s intergovernmental committee for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage said it was withdrawing the carnival “over recurring repetition of racist and antisemitic representations” at the event.

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Traditional Thai massage gains Unesco heritage status

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Practice of nuad Thai, which has gained global recognition, is added to Unesco’s ‘intangible cultural heritage’ list

The body-folding, sharp-elbowed techniques of Thai massage have been added to Unesco’s prestigious heritage list.

Originating in India and practised in Thailand for centuries, the massage was popularised when a special school opened in the 1960s to train massage therapists from around the world.

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The ‘qualifications passport’ scheme breaking down barriers for migrants

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Having their skills recognised is one of the main obstacles to employment faced by refugees in developed countries

The armed rebels had first ransacked the hospital where Timothée* worked as a doctor. Then, they went door to door with machetes, hunting down those seen as the wealthiest – the most educated first. When the house next door was burned down with his neighbours still inside, Timothée fled.

Without a chance to grab his passport or phone, Timothée ran through the darkness of the bush of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, knowing he might never see his family or his fiancee again.

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Unesco advisers raise concerns over plan to raise Warragamba dam wall

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World Heritage centre says proposal would result in inundation of large part of world heritage-listed Blue Mountains wilderness area

Advisers to the United Nations have expressed concerns about a plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall because of its likely impact on the Blue Mountains.

The World Heritage Centre, which advises the UN committee in charge of world heritage properties, published its position on the project on Friday.

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