UNESCO World Heritage "List in Danger" is Growing

by Robin Tauck

Over the summer of 2009, I witnessed several days of testimony amongst 100 nations regarding the all-time-high UNESCO World Heritage Endangered List – irreplaceable places of outstanding cultural and natural value.  This poses a key question, can  we “reverse the irreversible?”

As the UNFCCC post Kyoto, Copenhagen Conference is just months away, most industries and leaders of the global economy are engaging with major governments and emerging nations to enact new practices; no small feat. Small business, and social pressure yield even more power when it comes to “change”.  The travel industry is gearing up to participate.

Amongst the issues, there are now 33 Endangered Places - extraordinary sites of Outstanding Universal Value– authentic, unique and irreplaceable world treasures, that are in final jeopardy of being lost forever.  Is this enough to act? 

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre of Paris and its massive network of global reach to 187 nations is working feverishly with advisory bodies to bring attention, advocacy and resource to the rescue.

The travel industry or its misguided growth did not create the Endangered List; yet as the 21st century beacon of global economic prosperity, we are uniquely positioned to help. 

33 Endangered Sites and Growing…

The list of 33 properties listed in danger in accordance with Article 11 (4) of the UNESCO Convention belong to 25 diverse nations. They include 17 cultural sites and 16 natural sites – each and every one unique.

Serious Endangered Sites include several on the African continent in Egypt, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Senegal and the Congo – some are under-served, war-torn, or over-poached animal kingdoms.  Others are meccas for today’s tourists via our hotel, cruise and tour industries – such as the City of Jerusalem, the Galapagos Islands, Abu Mena, Dresden and Elbe Valley or the latest 2009 tragedy:  the Barrier Reef of Belize, the only barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere.

As a tourism professional, I felt honored and privileged to have sailed in the Galapagos since 1978 (pre cruise ships) and to have dived and snorkeled with over 80 travel industry friends in the Blue Holes of the Belize Reef in 1994-1996.  We hosted several exhilarating 5-day sailings, full sails aloft in 25 knot winds down the entire length of the Reef while a team of naturalists educated us on the extraordinary biodiversity. We were truly awed.  I now feel such sadness that this special place, may be irreversibly damaged.

America is at the cusp of its first Endangered Site:  the Waterton Glacier National Park, our trans-border World Heritage Site shared with Canada, is now under UNESCO and IUCN missions to protect it from a similar fate.  Each site has its own long story.

Supporting the Nations and Foundations

Let us commend the governments, delegations, non-profits and conservationists of the international community and the UN Framework for their implementation strategies.  Nations such as Spain, Ecuador, Israel, Egypt, Peru, China, Australia and so many others have stepped up, despite budgetary and other challenges.

Leading the way for World Heritage in Washington DC, is the National Park Service and State Department delegations to UNESCO, having served four terms on the 21-nation Committee overseeing the growing World Heritage List, now at 890 sites.   

The United Nations Foundation (UNF), founded in 1998 by eco-baron Ted Turner, and its Sustainable Director, Erika Harms has created a variety of resourced initiatives and best-practice new examples of public/Private partnerships to support the Endangered.

For example, UNF has already united with the Belize Tourism Authority, Conservation International and the World Heritage Centre to provide immediate aid, “The Endangered Belize Reef is just one example of how quickly we can collaborate to “reverse the irreversible.” With today’s resources”, says Art Pedersen of WHC,  “we can provide the potential Perfect Solution vs. Perfect Storm.  This is unilateral, cross cultural collaboration at its best, and we need the tourism industry.”

Learn More and Lend Your Support

Our industry is the largest employer in the world – with over 260 million people – people like yourself— who have made a career of travel and its impact.

There is a global plan.  It is audacious, innovative and progressive.  I hope we can resist turning away and resist supporting business as usual –as tempting as it may be, for those who believe it is too costly, too disruptive or too unclear to make new choices. There really is no other choice.  I urge members of the American travel industry to lend their support.

To learn more: www.unesco.org or www.unfoundation.org.   To be directly involved in World Heritage Sites, pledge a donation, or become a member of the World Heritage Alliance www.worldheritagealliance.com, or www.friendsofworldheritage.com.