Our work
In its work on World Heritage, IUCN implements initiatives to enhance the role of the World Heritage Convention in protecting the planet’s biodiversity, and to promote effective use of its mechanisms to strengthen the conservation and management of natural World Heritage sites.
Explore natural World Heritage sites
Discover key facts and figures on natural World Heritage, and explore the full list of sites recognised under the World Heritage Convention for their unique natural values, such as the scale of natural habitats, intactness of ecological processes, viability of populations of rare species, as well as exceptional natural beauty.
Advisor on World Heritage
IUCN provides technical advice to help the World Heritage Committee make informed decisions on natural heritage. IUCN evaluates all sites nominated for World Heritage status due to their natural values and monitors the state of conservation of existing natural World Heritage sites.
IUCN World Heritage Outlook
The IUCN World Heritage Outlook is the first global assessment of natural World Heritage. Launched in 2014 and with two updates in 2017 and 2020, it is IUCN's flagship for assessing all natural World Heritage sites. It is composed of a website and a three-yearly global report.
World Heritage Leadership
The World Heritage Leadership programme is a capacity building programme jointly run by IUCN and ICCROM, helping to improve conservation and management practices for culture and nature, as an integral component of World Heritage sites' contribution to sustainable development.
IUCN's initiatives on World Heritage
Alongside our work as the official Advisor to UNESCO, we lead on a series of initiatives to make the World Heritage Convention more effective and relevant to global conservation. These initiatives focus on themes or regions specifically in the context of World Heritage.
IUCN's policies and advice notes on World Heritage
IUCN works to provide guidance while outlining its position on key issues affecting natural World Heritage sites, such as extractives, logging and large infrastructures, and seeking sustainable solutions.