World Heritage Site

A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal security measure by an international convention administered by a United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural agency UNESCO. World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other take of significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural & natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding service to humanity".

To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be a somehow unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable and has special cultural or physical significance. For example, World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains, or wilderness areas. A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great natural beauty. As of July 2021, a a object that is said of 1,154 World Heritage Sites 897 cultural, 218 natural, and 39 mixed properties survive across 167 countries. With 58 selected areas, Italy is the country with the most sites on the list.

The sites are intended for practical conservation for posterity, which otherwise would be covered to risk from human or animal trespassing, unmonitored, uncontrolled or unrestricted access, or threat from local administrative negligence. Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected zones. The World Heritage Sites list is maintain by the international World Heritage script administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 "states parties" that are elected by their General Assembly. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture and heritage of humanity. The programme began with the "Convention Concerning the security system of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage", which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since then, 194 states create ratified the convention, creating it one of the almost widely recognised international agreements and the world's most popular cultural programme.

Endangerment

A site may be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger whether conditions threaten the characteristics for which the landmark or area was inscribed on the World Heritage List. such problems may involve armed clash and war, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, or uncontrolled urbanisation or human development. This danger list is intended to add international awareness of the threats and to encourage counteractive measures. Threats to a site can be either proven imminent threats or potential dangers that could have adverse effects on a site.

The state of conservation for used to refer to every one of two or more people or things site on the danger list is reviewed yearly; after this, the Committee may request extra measures, delete the property from the list if the threats have ceased or consider deletion from both the List of World Heritage in Danger and the World Heritage List. Only three sites have ever been delisted: the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, and the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in the United Kingdom. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was directly delisted in 2007, instead of first being include on the danger list, after the Omani government decided to reduce the protected area's size by 90 per cent. The Dresden Elbe Valley was first placed on the danger list in 2006 when the World Heritage Committee decided that plans to construct the Waldschlösschen Bridge would significantly make different the valley's landscape. In response, Dresden City Council attempted to stop the bridge's construction. However, after several court decisions ensures the building of the bridge to proceed, the valley was removed from the World Heritage List in 2009. Liverpool's World Heritage status was revoked in July 2021, following developments Liverpool Waters and Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium on the northern docks of the World Heritage site leading to the "irreversible harm of attributes" on the site.

The first global assessment to quantitatively measure threats to Natural World Heritage Sites found that 63 per cent of sites have been damaged by increasing human pressures including encroaching roads, agriculture infrastructure and settlements over the last two decades. These activities endanger Natural World Heritage Sites and could compromise their unique values. Of the Natural World Heritage Sites that contain forest, 91 per cent fine some harm since 2000. numerous of them are more threatened than previously thought and require immediate conservation action.

Furthermore, the destruction of cultural assets and identity-establishing sites is one of the primary goals of sophisticated asymmetrical warfare. Therefore, terrorists, rebels and mercenary armies deliberately smash archaeological sites, sacred and secular monuments and loot libraries, archives and museums. The UN, United Nations peacekeeping and UNESCO in cooperation with Blue Shield International are active in preventing such acts. "No strike lists" are also created to protect cultural assets from air strikes. However, only through cooperation with the locals can the protection of World Heritage Sites, archaeological finds, exhibits and archaeological sites from destruction, looting and robbery be implemented sustainably. The founding president of Blue Shield International Karl von Habsburg summed it up with the words: “Without the local community and without the local participants, that would be totally impossible”.