World Heritage in Danger

Ascertained Danger

The property is faced with specific and proven imminent danger, such as:

• serious deterioration of materials;
• serious deterioration of structure and/or ornamental features;
• serious deterioration of architectural or town-planning coherence;
• serious deterioration of urban or rural space, or the natural environment;
• significant loss of historical authenticity;
• important loss of cultural significance.

Potential Danger

The property is faced with threats which could have deleterious effects on its inherent characteristics. Such threats are, for example:

• modification of juridical status of the property diminishing the degree of its protection;
• lack of conservation policy;
• threatening effects of regional planning projects;
• threatening effects of town planning;
• outbreak or threat of armed conflict;
• threatening impacts of climatic, geological or other environmental factors.

Ascertained Danger

The property is faced with specific and proven imminent danger, such as:

• A serious decline in the population of the endangered species or the other species of Outstanding Universal Value for which the property was legally established to protect, either by natural factors such as disease or by human‑made factors such as poaching.
• Severe deterioration of the natural beauty or scientific value of the property, as by human settlement, construction of reservoirs which flood important parts of the property, industrial and agricultural development including use of pesticides and fertilizers, major public works, mining, pollution, logging, firewood collection, etc.
• Human encroachment on boundaries or in upstream areas which threaten the integrity of the property.

Potential Danger

The property is faced with major threats which could have deleterious effects on its inherent characteristics. Such threats are, for example:

• a modification of the legal protective status of the area;
• planned resettlement or development projects within the property or so situated that the impacts threaten the property;
• outbreak or threat of armed conflict;
• the management plan or management system is lacking or inadequate, or not fully implemented.
• threatening impacts of climatic, geological or other environmental factors.

Iranian city of Bam: The ancient Citadel and surrounding cultural landscape of the Iranian city of Bam, where 26,000 people lost their lives in the earthquake of December 2003, was simultaneously inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004. Important international efforts are mobilized to salvage the cultural heritage of this devastated city.

Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan: This cultural landscape was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2003 simultaneously with its inscription on the World Heritage List. The property is in a fragile state of conservation considering that it has suffered from abandonment, military action and dynamite explosions. Parts of the site are inaccessible due to the presence of antipersonnel mines. UNESCO, at the request of the Afghan Government, coordinates all international efforts to safeguard and enhance Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, notably in Bamiyan.

Historic Town of Zabid in Yemen: The outstanding archaeological and historical heritage of Zabid has seriously deteriorated in recent years. Indeed, 40% of its original houses have been replaced by concrete buildings. In 2000, at the request of the State Party, the Historic Town of Zabid was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. UNESCO is helping the local authorities to develop an urban conservation plan and to adopt a strategic approach for the preservation of this World Heritage site.

The National Parks of Garamba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga, Virunga and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Since 1994, all five World Heritage sites of the DRC were inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger as a result of the impact of the war and civil conflicts in the Great Lakes region. In 1999, an international safeguarding campaign was launched by UNESCO together with a number of international conservation NGOs to protect the habitat of endangered species such as the mountain gorilla, the northern white rhino and the okapi. This resulted in a 4-year US$3.5 million emergency programme to save the five sites, funded by the United Nations Foundation and the Government of Belgium. In 2004, international donors, non-governmental organizations and the governments of Belgium and Japan pledged an additional US$50 million to help the Democratic Republic of the Congo rehabilitate these World Heritage parks.