| IUCN Evaluations of Natural and Mixed Nominations to the World Heritage List | ||
| Nomination Site | Country | Notes |
| Aqaba Marine Reserve | Jordan | – |
| Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | Gulf of Aqaba, Saudi Arabia | – |
| Getbol, Korean Tidal Flats (Phase II) | Republic of Korea | – |
| Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR) | United States of America | – |
| Parc national de la Garamba | Democratic Republic of the Congo | – |
| The Bashkir Shikhans of Toratau, Kushtau and Yuraktau | Russian Federation | – |
| The Bony Fish Fossils of the Western Limfjord - Evolution and Climate Adaptation in the Earliest Eocene (viii) | Denmark | – |
| The wider area of Mount Olympus | Greece | – |
| Wadi Wurayah | United Arab Emirates | – |
External event 19 Jul, 2026
48th session of the World Heritage Committee
The 48th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting will take place from the 19 – 29 July in Busan, Republic of Korea. Over the 10 days of the session, the Committee will make decisions of the new sites to be added to the prestigious World Heritage List, in addition to decisions on the conservation and management actions needed to protected existing World Heritage sites under threat.
IUCN Director General, Dr Grethel Aguilar, delivering IUCN’s opening statement at the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee.
IUCN is the official advisor on nature to the World Heritage Committee, which is the governing body of the Convention and is made up of 21 of the Convention’s signatory States Parties, chaired this year by the Republic of Korea. Over the past year, IUCN has undertaken extensive research and on the ground visits, to provide technical recommendations on the evaluation of potential new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List, and on the state of conservation of existing natural World Heritage sites including those on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The livestream of the World Heritage Committee meeting is available here.
All documents for the World Heritage Committee meeting are available here.
IUCN recommendations
- All related documents are available here.
- IUCN Evaluation report of new nominations (WHC/26/48.COM/INF.8B2 and WHC/26/48.COM/INF.8B2.Add)
- State of conservation reports for sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger (WHC/26/48.COM/7A, WHC/26/48.COM/7A.Add, and WHC/26/48.COM/7A.Add.2)
- State of conservation reports for sites on the World Heritage List (WHC/26/48.COM/7B, WHC/26/48.COM/7B.Add, and WHC/26/48.COM/7B.Add.2)
Other brief
2026
The UNESCO World Heritage Convention is among the most widely accepted international conservation treaties, ratified today by 196 States Parties. The Convention’s recognition from the outset that…
| State of Conservation of sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger | |
| Site | Country |
| Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra | Indonesia |
| East Rennell | Solomon Islands |
| Everglades National Park | United States of America |
| Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve | Honduras |
| Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California | Mexico |
| Manovo Gounda St. Floris National Park | Central African Republic |
| Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve | Côte d’Ivoire/Guinea |
| General Decision on the World Heritage properties in the Democratic Republic of the ... | |
| State of conservation of sites on the World Heritage List | |
| Site | Country |
| Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region | Albania, North Macedonia |
| Laponian Area | Sweden |
| Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul, Campeche | Mexico |
| Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu | Peru |
| Ennedi Massif: Natural and Cultural Landscape | Chad |
| Ngorongoro Conservation Area | United Republic of Tanzania |
| Socotra Archipelago | Yemen |
| Great Barrier Reef | Australia |
| The Sundarbans | Bangladesh |
| Manas Wildlife Sanctuary | India |
| Lorentz National ... | |
Selected Side Events
16 – 23 July – World Heritage Site Manager’s Forum, co-organised by ICCROM and IUCN.
Monday 20 July (lunchtime): World Heritage and Multi-Internationally Designated Areas: Towards integrated management approaches – co-organised by IUCN and GCIDA in collaboration with the Jeju World Heritage Team.
Tuesday 21 July (lunchtime): From Guidance to Action: resources to plan and improve the management of World Heritage – co-organised by IUCN and ICCROM in collaboration with UNESCO and ICOMOS.
Tuesday 21 July (evening): Advancing a Strategic Approach to Climate Change within the World Heritage Convention – organised by IUCN.
Wednesday 22 July (lunchtime): IUCN World Heritage Outlook 4: key results and how it complements Reactive Monitoring process – organised by IUCN.
Thursday 23 July (lunchtime): Enhancing Heritage: Exploring the potential of the Preliminary Assessment Process for World Heritage Site Nominations – co-organised by IUCN, ICOMOS and UNESCO.
Friday 24 July (lunchtime): Elevating the role of heritage in a global review of collective progress towards biodiversity goals – organised by IUCN.
About IUCN and the World Heritage Convention
Since the inception of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, IUCN has played a unique role as the official advisory body under the World Heritage Convention on natural World Heritage. This involves leading the technical recommendation of all new nominations of natural and mixed World Heritage sites, monitoring the status of existing natural and mixed World Heritage sites and the newly added Preliminary Assessment process to provide direct advice on the feasibility of potential nominations to states parties.
IUCN also works independently on the Convention to support World Heritage sites globally though our extensive network of programs and policies led though our central Secretariat team, our expert commissions, and our member organisations.
Find out more about IUCN's work on World Heritage here and discover natural World Heritage sites here.
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