IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3

Abstract

The year 2020 should be remembered as a tipping point in the history of humankind. A time when our ability to act collectively in the face of uncertainty has been tested to its limits and when, confronted with tragedy, we transformed our lives to protect each other, often at great cost. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must look to a brighter future, a future where we stand together and work as one for the common good. This testing time comes as the international community determines a new course of action to preserve the diversity of life on Earth through the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Led by the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, we are taking stock of progress towards the Aichi Targets set in 2010, and agreeing new targets and indicators for the next decade and beyond. The World Heritage Convention, created in 1972 and with 194 signatories, can shape this process. The Convention embodies our ambition to pass the planet’s most precious places undamaged from one generation to the next. Understanding our ability to honour these commitments will surely be the ultimate test for our vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature” by 2050. The IUCN World Heritage Outlook assesses the conservation prospects of all natural World Heritage sites: designated as such because they harbour irreplaceable ecosystems and provide habitats critical to the survival of globally threatened species. Examining the successes and challenges of preserving these places is an indicator of what is happening to biodiversity more broadly. IUCN’s assessment shows whether current conservation measures are sufficient, if more must be done, and where. The conclusions of IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3 are somewhat sobering. Climate change is now the most prevalent threat to natural World Heritage sites and the harm caused to these sites by the pandemic’s disruption is becoming clear. Since the previous assessment in 2017, more sites have deteriorated than have improved and, whilst we should celebrate the successes, the threats sites face are escalating. There is much work to be done to secure the conservation in perpetuity of them all. The great wealth of information brought together for IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3, and the expertise needed to interpret it, are testimony to IUCN’s unique ability to mobilise its Members, partners and Commission experts. The report is the work of hundreds, including many from IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and Species Survival Commission. The sites they have assessed are celebrated as places so valuable that they transcend national boundaries, cultures and generations. In these uncertain times, we hope everyone can look to these awe- inspiring places as proof of our collective commitment to conserving life on Earth.