UNESCO World Heritage Selection Criteria
Procedure and Requirements for Adding New UNESCO Sites
Aug 22, 2009
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) continually seeks to identify and ensure preservation of sites around the world that have outstanding cultural and natural value for current and future generations to come. To UNESCO, "Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration." But what criteria do they use in selecting the sites that make up the world's heritage?
Nomination Process for Potential UNESCO World Heritage Sites
To start, a location has to first be nominated for consideration. In order to nominate a property, the country must be a signatory member of the World Heritage Convention, meaning they signed an agreement pledging to protect their country's cultural and natural heritage. Once a nomination is submitted, it is forwarded to the Advisory Bodies for review, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN). These two agencies provide the World Heritage Committee with their own recommendations regarding the nominated sites. There is also a third agency, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). ICCROM is an intergovernmental organization that provides training and advice on cultural site preservation.
After evaluation by the Advisory Bodies, the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee meets once a year to discuss which sites should be added to the World Heritage List. During their session, they review the evaluations provided and also discuss whether the nominations meet strict selection criteria.
Selection Criteria for World Heritage Site Designation
Prior to 2005, there was a combination of six cultural criteria and four natural criteria that were used in the selection process. Today, the operational guidelines in effect just list ten overall criteria. Currently, in addition to requiring a site to be of outstanding universal value, it must meet at least one of these ten criteria in consideration for designation as a World Heritage Site. Per UNESCO, the ten selection criteria currently in effect are:
(i) to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
(ii) 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;
(iii) to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
(iv) 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;
(v) 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;
(vi) 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. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
(vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
(viii) 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;
(ix) 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;
(x) 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.
Preservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Once a site is included on the list, it is not guaranteed to remain there forever. In June 2009, the World Heritage Committee deleted Dresden's Elbe Valley from the list for failing to preserve its "outstanding universal value as inscribed," after building a four-lane bridge in the center of the cultural landscape. It is only the second site to ever be deleted from the list, hopefully serving as an example to others about the importance of preserving world heritage.
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