World Heritage Introduction

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located.

In 1959, the Egyptian government planned to construct the Aswan High Dam, which would submerge precious monuments in the Nile Valley, such as the Abu Simbel Temples. In 1960, UNESCO launched the "Nubia Campaign". Monuments including the Abu Simbel Temples and Philae Temple were carefully disassembled, transported to higher ground, and reconstructed piece by piece. The conservation project cost a total of 80 million US dollars, half of which, 40 million US dollars, was raised through donations from more than 50 countries. This campaign was deemed a great success and inspired many subsequent similar conservation initiatives, including the rescue of Venice, the water city in Italy, Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and Borobudur in Indonesia. Later, UNESCO collaborated with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to draft the convention for the protection of humanity’s cultural heritage.
In 1965, the United States proposed the joint protection of cultural and natural heritage. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) put forward a similar proposal in 1968, which was submitted for discussion at the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, in 1972. The 17th General Conference of UNESCO was convened in Paris from 17 October to 21 November 1972. It noted that cultural and natural heritage was increasingly threatened by destruction, caused partly by natural decay over time, and worsened by shifting social and economic conditions that brought more intractable damage and deterioration. On 16 November 1972, UNESCO adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Paris, France, which clearly defined the concept of World Heritage.
In short, the core criteria for selecting World Heritage sites are authenticity and integrity. In recent years, the concept and practice of World Heritage have continued to evolve. The Nara Document affirms respect for diverse cultures within World Heritage frameworks. The 2000 Cairns Decision introduced new nomination policies, partially revised and implemented via the Suzhou Decision, aiming to carry out the Global Strategy for World Heritage and pursue global representativeness and balance among inscribed sites. World Heritage is divided into four categories: cultural heritage, natural heritage, mixed cultural and natural heritage, and cultural landscapes. World Heritage carries clear definitions and standard criteria for nomination by State Parties and evaluation by the World Heritage Committee.
I. Cultural Heritage
Monuments: Architectural works, sculptures and paintings of outstanding universal value from historical, artistic or scientific perspectives; archaeological elements or structures, inscriptions, caves, settlements and complexes of various relics.
　　 Groups of buildings: Isolated or interconnected building ensembles of outstanding universal value from historical, artistic or scientific standpoints, due to their architectural form, homogeneity and position within the landscape.
Sites: Man-made works or joint creations of human beings and nature, as well as archaeological zones of outstanding universal value from historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological perspectives.
II. Natural Heritage
Natural features consisting of geological and biological formations or groups of such formations, of outstanding universal value from an aesthetic or scientific viewpoint.
Geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated zones that constitute the habitats of threatened species of animals and plants, of outstanding universal value from the perspective of science or conservation.
Natural sites or precisely demarcated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the perspective of science, conservation or natural beauty.
III. Cultural Landscapes
The concept of cultural landscapes was proposed and incorporated into the World Heritage List at the 16th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Santa Fe, USA, in December 1992. Cultural landscapes represent the "combined works of nature and of man" as defined in Article 1 of the World Heritage Convention. Generally speaking, cultural landscapes fall into three types:
(1) Landscapes deliberately designed and created by human beings. They include gardens and park landscapes constructed for aesthetic reasons, often (but not always) associated with religious or other conceptual buildings or architectural complexes.
(2) Organically evolved landscapes. They originated from initial social, economic, administrative and religious needs and have developed into their present form through connection or adaptation to the surrounding natural environment. This category contains two sub-types: First, relic (fossil) landscapes, representing an evolutionary process that has concluded in a past period, whether abruptly or gradually. Their outstanding universal value lies in the tangible surviving physical traces of this evolution. Second, continuing landscapes, which maintain an active social role within communities linked to traditional local lifestyles, whose evolutionary processes are still ongoing while preserving material evidence of their historical development.
(3) Associative cultural landscapes. Such sites are inscribed on the World Heritage List for their powerful religious, artistic or cultural associations with natural elements, rather than for visible cultural physical relics. In addition, monuments and natural landscapes inscribed on the World Heritage List that face severe threats may be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger following investigation and deliberation by the World Heritage Committee, so that emergency rescue measures can be implemented.
The inscription of World Heritage sites is decided through voting sessions of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. The Committee held its first session in 1976, and has held an official annual meeting in different State Parties across the globe ever since; extraordinary emergency sessions may also be convened when necessary. The designation of World Heritage sites aims to call on humanity to cherish, protect, rescue and value these unique sites on Earth.
By 2009, there were a total of 890 World Heritage Sites worldwide, including 689 cultural heritage sites, 176 natural heritage sites and 25 mixed cultural and natural heritage sites, distributed across 145 countries. 148 State Parties own World Heritage properties in total. (One site located in Jerusalem, a territory with disputed sovereignty, was submitted for inscription by Jordan.)

Region	Cultural Heritage	Natural Heritage	Mixed Cultural & Natural Heritage	Total
Africa	42	33	3	78
Arab States	60	4	1	65
Asia & Pacific	129	48	9	186
Europe & North America	375	56	9	440
Latin America & Caribbean	85	35	3	121
Total	689	176	25	890