Natural heritage

This report presents a summary of the presentations and the main outputs from the working groups of the workshop “Harmonisation of Tentative Lists in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe” held on Vilm from May 9th to 13th, 2007. The report is complemented by a CD-ROM containing the workshop's presentations and the most relevant reference papers (see Annex for an overview of the documents).

The strategy paper analyses the coverage of the world’s existing natural and mixed World Heritage (WH) sites and sets out some indicative future priorities. It is largely based on a more detailed analysis (available separately) of the world’s natural and mixed WH sites undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), titled: “A Review of the Global World Heritage Network: Biogeography, Habitats and Biodiversity”.

This report discusses role of the World Heritage Convention in recognizing and protecting geological and geomorphological heritage, and presents proposals based on a global consultation.

This report was commissioned by IUCN’s Programme on Protected Areas and financed by the World Heritage Fund in response to a request from the World Heritage Committee (27th session, 2003). A literature review was carried out and consultation with regional experts and members of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) to identify a limited number of sites which may have potential for natural World Heritage status from among almost three hundred protected areas in Central Asia.

This guidance sets out the suggested procedures for compiling retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and for submitting them for approval by the World Heritage Committee.