World Heritage Review - Volume 2020, Issue 95, 2020

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments have taken measures to restrict movements of people and access to certain areas.

Digital technologies are proving to be a key component in dealing with the current Coronavirus pandemic worldwide. World Heritage sites raise unique concerns. How can digital technologies be applied to support remote access for staff and visitors, site monitoring and risk reduction while access is limited, and, eventually, ensure safe re-entry to these important places? The World Heritage Convention is the most powerful international instrument that integrates the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties in a single document.

COVID-19 has affected all humanity in an unprecedented manner. It has disrupted every aspect of our political, social, cultural and economic life, and protected areas and heritage places have not been spared. The pandemic threatens to have grave repercussions for these sites. It risks impairing the unique attributes that give them universal value. The impact locally could be disastrous. These exceptional protected natural areas, cultural properties and cultural interpretation spaces represent an essential resource for their stakeholders, communities and natural systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on World Heritage sites around the world. At one point in April 2020, sites were entirely or partially closed in 90 per cent of countries, with grave consequences for the communities living in and around them. Financial losses were heavy due to the standstill of tourism. Without entrance fees into sites, visitor centres and museums, and an absence of clients for accommodation, restaurants and local cultural industries, the World Heritage properties and the communities around them suffered a substantial reduction of income.

Today we are facing a global crisis unlike any we have seen this century. Thousands of people have lost their lives to COVID-19 and many more have been infected. Billions of people are now confined to their homes around the world. Those who cannot work from home ’ doctors, nurses, emergency personnel, people who work in essential services like supermarkets and pharmacies, and sanitation workers, just to name a few – are putting their lives on the line every day to keep us safe and healthy. Healthcare systems in even the wealthiest of countries are straining under the pressure of this global pandemic. Economically, socially and psychologically, the impact of COVID-19 will likely be felt long after this sanitary crisis is over.

As the world continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) stands in solidarity with all those already directly affected by the virus around the world. Our thoughts are with all vulnerable populations, especially those who are already suffering from the ravages of environmental degradation – many with limited access to adequate healthcare for financial or geographic reasons.

With the COVID-19 lockdown causing disruptions to the practice and transmission of living heritage, many communities have sought new ways to safeguard this heritage in the context of the pandemic.

More than 130 Ministers and Vice-Ministers of Culture joined the online meeting convened by UNESCO on 22 April 2020 to discuss actions to bolster the cultural sector, which is facing unprecedented upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 24 April, a brutal attack by armed militia groups in the Virunga National Park caused the deaths of four civilians and thirteen staff members of the Park, a natural World Heritage site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC).

The artwork displayed here was posted in response to a global call for the Little Artists Exhibition, inviting children around the world to draw a UNESCO World Heritage site that matters to them. This could be a site in their community, a memory from a family vacation, or a place they saw in a book, movie or television show.