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Conserve Heritage Resources

Other Heritage Programs

World Heritage Convention

The UNESCO General Conference in 1972 adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage Convention). Currently, 184 “States Parties” have ratified it, including Canada in 1976 (www.pc.gc.ca). The Convention established the World Heritage List as a means of recognizing that some places, either natural or cultural, are of sufficient importance to be the responsibility of the international community as a whole. By joining the Convention, states pledge to care for the World Heritage Sites (WHS) in their territory and to avoid deliberate measures that could damage World Heritage Sites in other countries. As such, the World Heritage List serves as a tool for conservation.

The World Heritage Committee oversees the Convention. The committee is composed of representatives from 21of the States Parties. The Committee is supported by UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, which advises States Parties on the preparation of site nominations, organizes technical assistance on request and coordinates reporting on the condition of sites. It also coordinates emergency action to protect threatened sites and administers the World Heritage Fund. The Centre may also request reactive monitoring reports in response to issues raised by non-government organizations, concerned citizens, or local media concerning the state of conservation of a WHS.

Parks Canada was designated in 1976 as the lead agency for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in Canada and provides a secretariat to manage the implementation of the Convention in Canada. The secretariat:

• Maintains a documentation centre for all program records;
• Advises on and coordinates the preparation and submission of nominations;
• Provides information on Canada’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites;
• Coordinates and submits the Periodic Report to the World Heritage Committee detailing the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in Canada including the protection of natural and cultural heritage by all levels of government. Parks Canada reports directly on the status of WHSs under its jurisdiction and reviewing other managers’ reports for completeness. Parks Canada presented its first Periodic Report to the World Heritage Committee in July 2005 as part of the North American Periodic Report; and
• Produces reactive monitoring reports for the WHS Parks Canada administers, and coordinates the response for sites it does not administer (e.g., directs correspondence to the responsible authority requesting information on how the issue will be addressed and then coordinates the response to the World Heritage Centre). Since 2000-2001, requests for thirteen reactive monitoring reports have been received, four concerning WHS involving national parks. In most cases, Parks Canada’s statutory requirements and management practices are sufficient to alleviate the World Heritage Committee’s concerns.

As of March 2007, there were 830 sites on the World Heritage List, 13 of which are located in Canada. Nine World Heritage Sites are managed in whole or part by Parks Canada. The sites on Canada’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites may be nominated for a World Heritage designation over a ten-year period beginning in 2005.

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