World Heritage Site

A cultural or natural place inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List because it is judged to have outstanding universal value.

World Heritage Convention: A 1972 UNESCO treaty establishing international cooperation to identify and protect cultural and natural heritage. The treaty supplies the legal framework for listing and protecting sites.
World Heritage criteria: Ten standards used to assess a property’s outstanding universal value and eligibility for inscription. Sites must meet at least one criterion, alongside authenticity or integrity requirements.
World Heritage in Danger: A World Heritage List of properties facing serious and specific threats to their outstanding universal value. The Committee can use this listing to draw attention to urgent risks and mobilize support.
Intangible cultural heritage: Practices, knowledge, expressions, and skills that communities recognize as part of their living heritage. Unlike World Heritage Sites, it is safeguarded through a separate UNESCO convention and lists.
Outstanding Universal Value: The significance of a property considered exceptional enough to matter beyond national boundaries. A property must demonstrate this significance to qualify for inscription.
Authenticity (heritage conservation): The credibility of heritage attributes as expressions of a property’s cultural values. It helps assess cultural sites under the World Heritage framework.
World Heritage Fund: The fund established by the World Heritage Convention to support conservation and emergency assistance. It can help states protect listed properties, especially when resources are limited.
UNESCO Global Geopark: A geographically unified area managed for internationally significant geological heritage and sustainable development. It is a separate UNESCO designation, not an inscription on the World Heritage List.
World Heritage Committee: The intergovernmental body that oversees the World Heritage Convention and decides which properties are inscribed. It makes the final decision on nominations and can place sites on the danger list.
Integrity (heritage conservation): The wholeness and intactness of a natural or cultural heritage property and its attributes. It helps establish whether a site can convey the values for which it is nominated.

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