UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC
AND CULTURAL ORGANISATION
CONVENTION CONCERNING THE
PROTECTION OF THE WORLD CULTURAL
AND NATURAL HERITAGE
Adopted by the General Conference at its seventeenth session
Paris, 16 november 1972
English Text
1
CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION
OF THE WORLD CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE
The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization meeting in Paris from 17 October to 21 November 1972, at its seventeenth
session,
Noting that the cultural heritage and the natural heritage are increasingly threatened with
destruction not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and
economic conditions which aggravate the situation with even more formidable phenomena of
damage or destruction,
Considering that deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage
constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world,
Considering that protection of this heritage at the national level often remains incomplete
because of the scale of the resources which it requires and of the insufficient economic,
scientific, and technological resources of the country where the property to be protected is
situated,
Recalling that the Constitution of the Organization provides that it will maintain, increase,
and diffuse knowledge by assuring the conservation and protection of the world's heritage,
and recommending to the nations concerned the necessary international conventions,
Considering that the existing international conventions, recommendations and resolutions
concerning cultural and natural property demonstrate the importance, for all the peoples of
the world, of safeguarding this unique and irreplaceable property, to whatever people it may
belong,
Considering that parts of the cultural or natural heritage are of outstanding interest and
therefore need to be preserved as part of the world heritage of