A renaissance for nature as the World Heritage Committee closes in Paris

Under the calm and efficient chairpersonship of Prof Nikolay Nenov of Bulgaria, and rapporteured by Ms Joelle Bucyana of Rwanda, IUCN played a large part in the meeting in our role as statutory advisory body on nature to the World Heritage Committee. 

Our strong and diverse delegation welcomed the IUCN Director General, Dr Grethel Aguilar, who delivered our opening statement, as well as opening both the Site Managers’ Forum and holding a major side event on the need to prioritise a new collaborative approach to World Heritage capacity building. 

With the presence of IUCN Director for Policy and Law, Sonia Peña Moreno, we were able to strengthen recognition of the key role of World Heritage to the Global Biodiversity Framework, and also launch the first IUCN Key Messages on World Heritage, to better align our work with IUCN’s wider policy leadership across the Multilateral Environmental Agreements. We also celebrated the new WCPA Specialist Group on World Heritage, and co-published a new report on extractives in World Heritage sites.

Here are four takeaways from the meeting:

1. One less site in Danger, in a world of continued conservation challenges.

We celebrated the removal of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in Madagascar from the List of World Heritage in Danger, following major progress and new commitments conveyed by Madagascar’s Minister of Environment.  This year saw a record workload for our monitoring work, as a legacy of COVID.  Committee decisions that support the effective protection and management of World Heritage sites across the world – from the marine ecosystems of the Phoenix Islands Protected Areas (Kiribati) in the Pacific; the unique biodiversity of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) in the Arab States; freshwater ecosystems of the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region (Albania, North Macedonia) in Europe and Canaima National Park (Venezuela) in Latin America were taken. This work is the unsung priority at the heart of the World Heritage Convention, even if the meeting cannot avoid profiling the new listings.

2. Africa shines, in an array of spectacular new listings and strengthened conservation commitments 

We welcomed seven amazing new nature conservation areas to the World Heritage List, with three of these coming from Africa, including the first ever World Heritage sites in Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau. This year it was particularly noteworthy that extensive dialogue with States Parties led to strengthened decisions, including on both the transboundary listing between Mozambique and South Africa, and a referral back of globally important steppe areas in Mongolia. Mongolia’s time-bound commitments to boost the conservation of the Eastern Mongolian Steppes before World Heritage listing can be seen as exemplary practice in the Convention. Some commentary on the apparent differences between Committee decisions and IUCN advice can be oversimplistic, and it is important to notice when changed decisions result in better real-world results, based on responses to the concerns we raise in our evaluations. 

3. Indigenous voices continue to strengthen 

The voice of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on World Heritage (IIPFWH) continued to strengthen, with the chair Chrissy Grant, again invited to address the Committee from the podium of the meeting, and a large increase in the number of Indigenous representatives being present, including through the new support of the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. A new space for this Indigenous Peoples caucus to meet throughout the meeting was another important step. Parties spoke consistently in favour of increased Indigenous recognition, and there is now a strong foundation for action to recognise and support the many Indigenous Peoples whose rights and territories intersect with current and potential World Heritage areas. IUCN has a strong dialogue with IIPFWH on the actions needed, which include the central need to remove the artificial separation of nature and culture. In the cultural landscape nominations, the listing of Murujuga Cultural Landscape stood out as a proposal led by Indigenous Peoples in Australia, and a source of lessons on how the Convention can better engage with indigenous world views.

4. Many Friends of Nature (and People) 

We were greatly heartened by the recognition by the Parties to the Convention on the need to promote nature in the Convention.  IUCN’s Key Messages are highly aligned with the views of the intersessional “Open-Ended Working Group” and we welcomed a proposal from Brazil on the floor of the Committee to explore a new party-led “Friends of Nature” initiative to address common challenges including gaps on the World Heritage List, linkages from World Heritage to the Global Biodiversity Framework and other designations, the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and leadership, and the missing link between World Heritage and access to conservation finance.  Collaboration with Bulgaria included a memorable “Green Machine” event to bring together site managers, nature specialists, Indigenous Peoples and the Committee delegations in the spirit of progress. Our growing work across the international designations, including with the new GCIDA Category 2 Centre in Jeju, is important here. I link to this agenda the ground-breaking Nairobi Declaration on Authenticity; a key concept for cultural heritage, which can be rethought to embrace the diverse worldviews on the relationship between people and nature. There is some real momentum for a positive step change in the relevance of World Heritage to global conservation agendas. 

Within these highlights, many concerns remain for the work of the Convention, with the continued lack of space for NGOs evident (and flags raised due to the last-minute exclusion of an NGO from attending as an observer).  Beyond the decisions, implementation remains the key deficit and there is a lack of inclusive ways to deliver the Convention’s work at the site, national and regional level, in a way that fully connects with institutions in the different regions. IUCN has a key role, beyond our formal Advisory Body status, to support the action that will deliver better results through World Heritage. We give voice for a world where success in conserving World Heritage sites is assured in an exemplary way and provides leadership at the heart wider conservation efforts.

So it is “au revoir” from Paris, and “à bientôt” for the 48^th Session next year, to be hosted in Busan, Republic of Korea. Until then, we have a year of conservation action to look forward to, including the work of the World Heritage Leadership Programme, and the forthcoming fourth edition of the IUCN World Heritage Outlook, to be launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. And you can now follow us on LinkedIn!  As we take the next steps forward, sincere thanks to all of the IUCN delegation, the supporters across the Union, especially in our Commissions, and the amazing and small IUCN Secretariat Team who make our work happen.