WORLD HERITAGE

In 1972 the General Conference of UNESCO adopted the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. In 2005 180 countries all over the world had approved the Convention whose mission is to assure the protection of the natural and cultural heritage by encouraging the Member States to indicate sites within the own national territory to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. It is the task of the Member States to identify potential sites as well as to take action for their protection and conservation. The World Heritage Committee meets once a year and is constituted by representatives of 21 Member States that will be elected by the General Assembly every six years. It is responsible for the implementation of the Convention, determines the use of the World Heritage Fund and provides financial support upon request from State Parties. Furthermore, it evaluates the applications made by Member States for the inscription of sites on the List, it examines the reports on the conservation status of the sites and asks the State Parties to intervene in cases where the site is not managed adequately.

CRITERIA FOR THE INSCRIPTION ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The criteria for the inscription on the World Heritage List, defined by the Committee, are divided into six cultural and four natural criteria that are listed below.
On the occasion of the 6th extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee the ten criteria had been assorted

Cultural criteria:

i.          to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
ii.         to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over the 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 for 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);

Natural 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 ongoing 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.