In the past few months, Tonic has often noted that an area, monument or structure is an UNESCO World Heritage site. But what exactly does that mean? Your Tonic Trekker decided to find out.
UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — was founded in 1945 during World War II with the hope of promoting international collaboration in the fields of education, science and culture. They ultimately hoped that a better understanding of other cultures could help prevent the terror that was unfolding in Europe at the time. Today, the Paris-based organization has over 50 field offices around the globe and nearly 200 member states and a handful more associate members. UNESCO stated goals include reducing extreme poverty in developing nations, achieving universal primary education, eliminating gender disparities in education and helping countries develop sustainable energy policy.
In 1972, the organization adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which designates certain places or structures as “World Heritage Sites.” At present, there are nearly 900 such sites around the globe, most of which are noted for their cultural significance and about 176 as natural wonders. Not surprisingly, Italy leads the list with about 44 heritage sites. Notable designees include the Statue of Liberty, Mexico’s Chichen Itza, the Palace of Westminster, the Persepolis in Iran, and the historic centers of cities like Florence, Warsaw and Vienna. (Click here for the complete list.)
To become a World Heritage Site, countries make submissions for a tentative list that is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and then presented to the World Heritage Committee. Criteria for cultural sites include a masterpiece of human creative genius, something that exhibits an important interchange of human values, an exceptional testimony to cultural tradition, an outstanding architectural structure that represents a particular era, a special example of human settlement or land use or something that is associated with ideas, events or traditions of universal significance. Natural sites must contain exceptional beauty and phenomena, represent states of Earth’s history, exhibit outstanding examples of ecological and biological evolution or contain the most important natural habitat for bio-diversity, especially for endangered species.
Interestingly, the World Heritage Centre is seriously concerned with environmental changes, as global warming appears to threaten many of the heritage sites. To this extent, the organization isn’t just fighting to preserve these sites through designation, they’re also working to combat global warming and other eco-issues to ensure our world’s heritage remains for many more years to come.
Photos include the World Heritage city centers (from top to bottom) of Warsaw, Vienna and Bratislava.