Department for Culture Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for the UK’s general compliance with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention and for nominating sites.
The devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are responsible for choosing sites to forward as nominations to DCMS. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible for forwarding nominations in the UK’s territories and the Ministry of Justice for Crown Dependencies.
The UK currently has 28 World Heritage Sites (WHSs) including Stonehenge.
Darwin’s Landscape Laboratory was submitted for for consideration by the World Heritage Committee in July 2010. The application was deferred for further in-depth study and analysis on 1 August 2010.
The Government plans to nominate the Twin Monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow in January 2011 for consideration by the World Heritage Committee in summer 2012.
Review timetable for tentative list of UK World Heritage sites.
Individual national governments are responsible for nominating sites in their country from a Tentative List of Future Nominations. The UK’s Tentative List was agreed in 1999 and is currently being reviewed.
After a nomination is presented there is an 18 month period of evaluation by one of UNESCO’s expert advisers - The International Union for Conservation of Nature for natural nominations and the International Council on Monuments and Sites for cultural ones - before a final decision is made by the World Heritage Committee at its annual meeting.
The 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention was ratified by the UK in 1984. The Convention provides for the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of cultural and natural sites of “outstanding universal value”.
The Convention is administered by a committee of 21 state party members, elected for a four year term. Among the Committee’s responsibilities is the decision on inscribing state party nominations to the World Heritage List. As of June 2009, 890 properties have been accorded World Heritage status.
Following a public consultation, World Heritage for the Nation: Identifying, Protecting and Promoting Our World Heritage, we announced that we are drawing up a new UK Tentative List of possible nominations for World Heritage status. We intend to submit the new List to UNESCO in 2011. Review timetable.
WHS status in the UK does not bring any financial awards from the Government or UNESCO, although it can attract indirect funding from other sources such as The Lottery and the private sector. The UK contributes around £130,000 to the Committee’s World Heritage Fund every year. However only developing countries can apply to the World Heritage Fund for assistance.
To mark the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, featuring UK natural World Heritage Sites, the UK National Commission for UNESCO has launched a biodiversity information pack and competition for schools. It includes practical suggestions for how schools can celebrate and examples of how UNESCO helps protect biodiversity in the UK, including case studies from UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and natural World Heritage Sites, which have distinct biodiversity.
2010 State of Conservation reports have been published:
World Heritage for the Nation: Identifying, Protecting and Promoting Our World Heritage. The Government response has been published.
Following the public consultation on the future of World Heritage, we will be drawing up a new UK Tentative List of possible nominations for World Heritage status, with the view of submitting a new List to UNESCO in 2011.