By 2100, half of the UNESCO World Heritage sites could be gone. At the opening of the event, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed the devastating fires in Greece that are increasingly threatening world heritage sites such as ancient Olympia.
Just this year there was a fire near Delphi. There, a grove of 2,000-year-old olive trees fell victim to the flames. Mitsotakis demanded that the protection of areas should go hand in hand with nature conservation.
In addition to climate change, experts have looked at the burden of increased urbanization, mass tourism and armed conflict. He said that all world heritage sites should be better protected.
Since its inception, 194 countries have joined the Unesco World Heritage institution. Currently, there are 1154 sites in 167 countries worldwide, 13 of which are in Switzerland.
Many of these are cultural monuments, such as the ancient sanctuary of Delphi, the Egyptian pyramids of Gizeh and the Great Wall of China in Switzerland – among them the old city of Bern and the fortresses and fortress and city walls of Bellinzona.
Some 220 natural heritage sites include the Norwegian Geriangerfjord, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, numerous national parks in Africa and Switzerland, the Alpine region around the Jungfrau and Aletsch Glacier, or the Tectonic Arena Sardona in the Glarus-St canton triangle. Gallen Grisons.
On 16 November 1972, the international community signed the Convention for the Protection of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage. The impetus for the adoption of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention 50 years ago was the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt in the 1960s, which threatened to flood the temple at Abu Simbel.
(SDA)