Story | 18 Nov, 2019
World Toilet Day 2019: Access to sanitation means dignity, opportunity, safety
World Toilet Day, celebrated on 19 November every year, is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which promises sanitation for all by 2030. As more than half the global population still…
Story | 29 Aug, 2019
The Future of Dams - Viable Options or Stranded Assets?
Since the 1997 IUCN-World Bank study 'Large Dams: Learning from the Past, Looking at the Future' and the subsequent establishment of the World Commission on Dams, IUCN recognises dams are, for better or worse, an integral part of a post fossil-fuel future in which energy needs are met for all.…
Story | 15 Jul, 2019
UNESCO’s annual World Heritage Committee meeting concluded on 10 July. After gathering input from the IUCN delegation he headed at the Committee, Peter Shadie, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme, captures some take-home messages from the meeting.
Story | 04 Jul, 2019
Hundreds of assessors and reviewers to take part in the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is gathering input from experts around the globe to complete a new cycle of assessments for the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3. This flagship IUCN report on natural World Heritage will be published in 2020, together with assessments for…
Press release | 03 Jul, 2019
The looming extinction of the vaquita puts Gulf of California on World Heritage danger list
The World Heritage Committee today followed IUCN’s advice to list Mexico’s Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California as a World Heritage site in danger. The site’s population of vaquitas – the world’s smallest and most endangered species of porpoise – has been decimated due to the…
Story | 02 Jul, 2019
Nature in the City: Green solutions for sustainable, healthy and resilient Cities
Today the world population stands at 7.7 billion. In the next 30 years it is expected to grow by a further 2.9 billion. By 2100, according to the latest UN projections, humanity is expected to have developed into an almost exclusively urban species with 80-90% of people living in cities.
Story | 01 Jul, 2019
IUCN report makes new proposals for listing World Heritage volcanoes
Eighteen volcanic landscapes around the globe are the most likely candidates for future inscription on the World Heritage List, according to a new IUCN study launched today at UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee meeting in Azerbaijan.
IUCN Statement | 27 Jun, 2019
Selous reserve could lose World Heritage status if dam project goes ahead – IUCN
The Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania faces irreversible damage if plans to build the Stiegler’s Gorge dam go ahead, according to IUCN – the official advisor on natural World Heritage. Ultimately, this could lead to the reserve being removed from the World Heritage List, IUCN warns ahead of next…
Story | 07 Jun, 2019
IUCN advises “in danger” status for three World Heritage sites
IUCN, the official advisor on natural World Heritage, recommends for three natural sites to be listed as “World Heritage in danger”: the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, Mexico’s Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California and the Ohrid region in North Macedonia.
Story | 20 May, 2019
Huge sub-Antarctic area among five sites recommended by IUCN for World Heritage List
The official advisory body on natural World Heritage, IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature, recommends listing four new World Heritage sites for their outstanding natural value in Brazil, France, Iceland and Iran, and approving the extension in Albania of a site currently listed…