In addition to providing interesting places to visit and learn about the past, these sites are also climate change observatories that gather and share info on climate practices.
As climate change is one of the defining issues of our time, and among the greatest threats facing cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage monuments and sites, this year’s theme is Heritage and Climate.
Planning for tomorrow
As the world reflects on the 50th anniversary of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, building knowledge on World Heritage and climate change can inform a future roadmap for the next half century.
On this international day, UNESCO underscored its commitment to fully integrating World Heritage monuments and sites into climate action and strategies.
They are a shared global asset that needs to be safeguarded from the effects of climate change as well as a transversal tool for climate change mitigation and adaptation for current and future generations to come.
The international day was established 40 years ago, in 1982, by UNESCO’s General Conference and is commemorated annually on 18 April.