Becoming a World Heritage Site
To become a World Heritage Site, a site must be put forward for nomination by its government and demonstrate that it meets one or more of the ten criteria laid down by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. These criteria are used to assess the Outstanding Universal Value of a site and indentify if the site can be regarded as having made a unique contribution to our shared global heritage. By inscribing a property as a World Heritage Site, the responsibility for preservation and conservation of that site becomes the responsibility of not just the country that holds it, but of the whole world.
To become a World Heritage site, a nomination must go through a process which includes several steps:
- The first step for an aspiring site is to be included on the UK’s tentative list of future nominations. The tentative list is a list of sites which the UK Government may consider nominating for World Heritage Status. This tentative list is usually set for 10 year period of time.
UK to launch new Tentative List. Click here to read more about the new nomination process.
- A nomination document is then prepared by the Government which will eventually be submitted for evaluation by the relevant advisory body (ICOMOS, IUCN, ICCROM).
- After the evaluation, the nomination document is then submitted for consideration by the World Heritage Committee and may or may not be inscribed at the annual World Heritage Committee meeting.
- Once inscribed as a World Heritage Site, the site must then be preserved, maintained and presented in accordance with a management plan.
In the UK most World Heritage Sites are complex and involve many local stakeholders and management plans are often drawn up by a World Heritage Site Management Plan Steering Group.
If the Outstanding Universal Value of a site is threatened by natural disaster, armed conflict or unchecked development, the site may be inscribed on the World Heritage in Danger list. This list highlights threats to a particular site while allowing for financial assistance from the World Heritage Fund to combat and address these threats. The World Heritage in Danger list is thus another way in which a World Heritage Site may be protected and preserved for future generations.
Useful links
- ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites)
- IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
- ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage)
- Ten Criteria for WHS inscription
- UK tentative list of future nominations
- World heritage in danger list
- World Heritage Centre