Activities / News
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Stop LNG Terminals at World Heritage Sites!
An upcoming global campaign with our network partners
We intervene at UNESCO
We lobby UNESCO for better protection of World Heritage sites
St. Catherine Monastery Area
A Sacred Landscape Disfigured by a Megatourism Project
Old Town of Goslar
A World Heritage in Emergency Needs Your Help and Support
Press Releases
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Press release
Berlin, June 2, 2025
World Heritage Watch deplores the decision of an Egyptian court to expropriate St. Catherine’s Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula with all its agricultural land, and even to deny it
the use of some of its land in the future.
Press release
Berlin, October 29, 2025
The international NGO World Heritage Watch has expressed serious doubts about the suitability of Khaled El Enany, the designated new Director-General of UNESCO. In a letter to the organization’s member states, signed by over 50 non-governmental organizations, individuals, and academics from the culture and heritage sector, they caution against his
confirmation, due on November 6
Press Release – Berlin and London, 18 December 2024
High in the remote mountains of the Sinai where legend has it God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the St. Katherine Monastery Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is undergoing major and devastating change as Egypt rolls out a tourism megaproject dubbed the Great Transfiguration Project. State-influenced media report that this strategic plan of national importance, said to have the backing of Egypt’s President Abdelfattah El Sisi. is aiming to transform St. Katherine into a new hub of religious, environmental and health tourism, in greatest conceivable contrast to what this area is all about: serenity, solitude, and spirituality.
With the targeted destruction of historic buildings, museums and the spiritual center, the main church of the Ukrainian cultural metropolis Odessa, the barbaric, genocidal Russian regime has crossed a final line and irrevocably left the circle of the civilized world.
Russia has thus forfeited any right to play a role in international bodies that advise or decide on the protection of cultural property.
Articles & more
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Immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, World Heritage Watch took action to protect and preserve Ukraine’s cultural heritage—starting with a call to German museums to donate packing materials from their stockpiles to their Ukrainian colleagues so they could quickly move their collections to safety. Twenty-six museums responded to the call, collectively donating nearly 200 tons of materials.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
High Court Judgement AGAINST A303 Stonehenge scheme!
Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site is delighted the High Court has today held that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps acted unlawfully when granting permission for a dual carriageway and short tunnel through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS)