Identifying potential overlap between extractive industries (mining, oil and gas) and natural World Heritage sites

The UNESCO World Heritage List includes 217 properties recognized for their outstanding natural heritage values. Despite UNESCO estimating that up to a quarter of these World Heritage sites are under development pressure from existing and future activities of extractive industries, to date there is no reliable analysis of the extent of overlap on a global scale. To address this absence of evidence, UNEP-WCMC, together with IUCN (the Advisory Body to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on natural heritage), the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) (whose members have made a ‘no-go’ commitment for natural World Heritage sites), and WWF, conducted the first global analysis of extractive activities and World Heritage sites based on data from two industry datasets.