World Heritage Watch Report 2020

We are happy to present to you our new World Heritage Watch Report 2020 which you can download here for free. You will find 42 contributions about World Heritage sites of all types and on all continents. While issues such as mining and dams remain a continuing concern, tourism is emerging as a major threat to the World Heritage. The global standstill in tourism through the Covid-19 pandemia should be used to rethink what kind of tourism we want for World Heritage sites.

Our wholehearted thanks goes to all authors for their high quality contributions ensuring that the Report will be difficult to be ignored by the statutory bodies of the World Heritage Convention. A special Thank You also to the volunteers who helped with the publication, first and foremost Andrea Martinez Fernandez from Santander, but also Elisa Argenziano, Geoff Law, Martin Lenk, Hana Prosser and Michael Turner. It has been a pleasure to work with all of them.
The Global Voice of Civil Society for the World Heritage

The sites on the UNESCO list of world cultural and natural heritage are the most valuable monuments, the most important old towns, the most beautiful cultural landscapes and the most breathtaking ecosystems and natural monuments in the world. It is for a reason that the international community has decided to protect them through international law. We cannot and do not want to imagine a world without them.

But more and more world heritage sites are threatened by development pressure, mass tourism, war, resource depletion, urbanization, climate change and investor projects, but also by neglect and mismanagement. UNESCO alone is powerless; it can only warn governments.

CIVIL SOCIETY WORLDWIDE MUST DEMAND THE PROTECTION OF THE SITES.

With our network of over 150 groups worldwide, World Heritage Watch ensures that the world heritage is not sacrificed to political compromises and economic interests. We support UNESCO in getting complete and correct information about the situation of the sites. And we help local people to protect their sites and to benefit from them appropriately.

The UNESCO World Heritage sites are not just the heritage of a people or a state, but of all humanity.

WE ARE ALL CALLED TO PRESERVE THE WORLD HERITAGE SITES AND PASS THEM ON TO THE NEXT GENERATIONS UNSCATHED.
What you can do
  • Send us reports about your observations and photos of any plans or activities which could negatively affect World Heritage Sites.
  • Start a local group in your community to monitor the World Heritage Site(s) in your commune, municipality, region or country.
  • Educate yourself and others about your World Heritage Site(s) and its management.
  • Alert the media, and post messages on social media, about your activities.
  • Support our work with a regular donation.
CURRENT ISSUES

Introducing Rod Prosser

We are happy to introduce Rod Prosser, our representative for the Australia-Pacific Region. He will support us in promoting World Heritage Watch, extending the network, and fundraising. Over time we hope to find more committed individuals who will assume that responsibility in other parts of the world as well.

Rod is a New Zealand film-maker who has been making political documentaries since the 1970s. His New Zealand themes have included Maori sovereignty, environmental education, workers rights and the anti-nuclear movement. While living in Berlin in the 1990s, he made a number of documentaries for German television including films about the interdependent struggles for the environment, indigenous cultures and revolution in the Philippines, the history and culture of Rapanui/Easter Island, and American militarism in the Pacific. For most of his life, Rod has also been involved in solidarity work with peoples of the Third World (especially the Philippines) and has worked with NGOs in NZ and in Germany to support indigenous peoples, biosphere reserves and environmental activism.

Contact Rod Prosser through orodi@protonmail.com