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UNESCO World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a landmark or area that is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for having cultural, historical, scientific, or other forms of significance. These sites are legally protected by international treaties. The aim is to identify, protect, and preserve these sites for future generations.

History and Context

The idea for a World Heritage List was conceived at the 1972 UNESCO Conference in Paris, which led to the adoption of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This convention was developed to encourage the identification, protection, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.

Criteria for Selection

To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must meet at least one out of ten selection criteria:

  1. To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius.
  2. To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design.
  3. To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared.
  4. To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.
  5. To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.
  6. To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.
  7. To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.
  8. To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
  9. To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.
  10. To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

Challenges and Criticisms

Despite its noble goals, the UNESCO World Heritage Site program faces several challenges:

Sources

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