The World Heritage Programm’s priority activities are:

The World Heritage Agenda for Nature

The World Heritage Agenda for Nature is a project that aims to capitalize on the biodiversity conservation potential of the World Heritage Convention by promoting effective use of its mechanisms to strengthen the conservation and management of natural World Heritage Sites.

This project, supported by the MAVA foundation, is at the heart of IUCN’s vision to increase the effective use of the World Heritage Convention to achieve conservation successes - not only for natural World Heritage sites, but also for the planet’s network of over 130,000 protected areas.

Monitoring existing natural World Heritage sites

IUCN monitors the State of Conservation of all natural sites on the World Heritage List throughout the year. Each year we prepare reports on about 60 sites, including all Danger Listed sites. Our Monitoring pages tell you more about this work, and our partnership with UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre.

Capacity Building

As part of our role as Advisory Body on natural heritage to the World Heritage Committee, IUCN undertakes training and capacity building for natural World Heritage Site managers, State Parties to the Convention, and other stakeholders involved in the management and conservation of the exceptional sites.

IUCN is currently implementing a capacity building programme in partnership with the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and ICCROM, and in collaboration with ICOMOS.

Nominations of new natural World Heritage sites

IUCN evaluates new World Heritage nominations and recommends which new sites should be added to the World Heritage List. Our Nominations pages provide additional information on our evaluation process, and lists those Sites that are being considered/ or have been considered in the past for World Heritage Status.