The World Heritage Convention
The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage ('The World Heritage Convention') was established by UNESCO in 1972 to identify and protect the world's most important cultural and natural sites.
Introduction to the World Heritage Convention
The UK ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1984 and, by doing so, joined an international community that has committed to protecting and preserving the world’s natural and cultural heritage.
The World Heritage Convention initiated the World Heritage List. The list identifies the cultural and natural heritage across the globe considered to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity. Inscription on the World Heritage List is an acknowledgement of significance at the highest possible level, termed 'Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).'
The World Heritage List is reviewed annually and includes over 1,200 cultural and natural sites. These represent the diversity of the world's natural and cultural heritage, with examples including cities and monuments, technological sites, and landscapes and geological sites. There are currently 35 UK World Heritage Sites ('properties'), comprised of 29 cultural, 5 natural and 1 mixed natural and cultural site. 3 properties are transnational sites, with component parts in multiple countries.
Inscriptions on the World Heritage List
Nomination and inscription to the World Heritage List is a multi-stage process.
Each country that has ratified the World Heritage Convention (State Party) produces a 'Tentative List'. This is an inventory of sites that the State Party considers potentially demonstrate OUV. UNESCO advises States Parties to update their Tentative Lists every 10 years. The UK updated its Tentative List in 2023 and therefore no further update is planned until at least 2033.
Once candidate sites for World Heritage status have been placed on the UK Tentative List, they may be invited to proceed to Preliminary Assessment. This is a desk-based process, undertaken by ICOMOS and/or IUCN as relevant, to help establish the feasibility of a potential nomination. From 2026, all sites on the Tentative List are subject to UNESCO's mandatory Preliminary Assessment stage.
UK Tentative List sites are also subject to national 'technical evaluation' by an expert panel convened by the UK Government. The panel advises the UK Government on the readiness of the site to proceed to submission of a nomination by the State Party to UNESCO.
Visit our Tentative List and Nomination Process page for more detailed information.
Outstanding Universal Value
Sites are inscribed on the World Heritage List because they are considered to demonstrate outstanding universal value (OUV) that makes their permanent protection of the highest importance to the international community.
Outstanding Universal Value means cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity.
To demonstrate OUV, a property must:
- Match 1 or more of a set of 10 criteria listed in the Operational Guidelines
- Meet conditions for authenticity (only applicable to cultural properties and cultural elements of mixed properties)
- Meet conditions for integrity
- Have an adequate protection and management system to ensure its safeguarding
The criteria under which each property is inscribed identify why it is believed to have OUV. Properties can be inscribed as cultural, natural, or mixed cultural and natural heritage depending on which of the 10 criteria they satisfy. Cultural sites that present significant interactions between people and the natural environment may also be recognised as cultural landscapes and require management that reflects these interactions.
Authenticity refers to whether the understanding of a property's OUV can be trusted based on what is seen and recorded about it (Operational Guidelines, Paragraphs 79-86). The concept is only applied in World Heritage contexts to cultural properties and the cultural attributes of mixed properties. Authenticity does not always reflect an absence of change, as change is sometimes necessary and can reflect an authentic response to changing circumstances.
Integrity is a measure of the wholeness and intactness of natural and/or cultural heritage and its attributes (Operational Guidelines, Paragraphs 87-95). The concept of integrity takes account of the condition of a property and its significant features. To retain integrity, sufficient parts of the property must remain to understand it as a whole (as at the time of inscription).
An explanation of how a site justifies its inscription is recorded as part of a description of its OUV, the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value, which is set out on the World Heritage List.
The UK Government's National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in its definition of significance (for heritage policy) states that it is the value of a heritage asset to this and future generations because of its heritage interest. Significance is wide-ranging and represents the sum of all the cultural and natural values of a heritage asset. OUV is instead defined for each site in reference to the specific criteria for inscription on the World Heritage List, and consequently will not necessarily encompass all the values that a heritage asset possesses. For World Heritage Sites, the cultural value described within each site's Statement of Outstanding Universal Value forms part of its significance.
Roles and Responsibilities under the World Heritage Convention
The World Heritage Convention sets out the duties of States Parties that have ratified the World Heritage Convention to identify, protect, conserve, present, and transmit cultural and natural heritage in its territory (Article 4). Article 5 sets out the actions States Parties are expected to undertake in support of the responsibilities listed in Article 4.
The World Heritage Convention also established the World Heritage Committee which is responsible for implementation of the World Heritage Convention. The Committee has the final say on decisions relating to inscription to or deletion from the World Heritage List and can request actions from States Parties in relation to specific World Heritage properties. The Committee is composed of 21 elected States Parties to the World Heritage Convention who each serve a term of up to 6 years, though most States Parties choose to voluntarily limit their term to 4 years to give other States Parties an opportunity to be on the Committee.
The World Heritage Committee is supported by a Secretariat, the World Heritage Centre, as appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO.
The Committee also has 3 Advisory bodies:
The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Convention
The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention is the most important World Heritage publication after the Convention itself. The Operational Guidelines present the criteria for the inscription of properties on the World Heritage List, requirements for their continued management and details of the provision of international assistance.
This document is regularly revised by the World Heritage Committee to reflect new experiences and ideas as well as its own decisions. It is therefore important to ensure that reference is made to the latest published version.
In England, substantial areas of the text in the UK Government's Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) relating to World Heritage are drawn from the content of the Operational Guidelines.
Also of interest
