Paris [France], August 1: UNESCO experts have recommended that the Italian city of Venice and its lagoon be put on the organization's heritage danger list, citing numerous threats.
"The effects of the continuing deterioration due to human intervention, including continuing development, the impacts of climate change and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes to the outstanding universal value of the property," the experts from the United Nations agency warned on Monday.
It is hoped that including Venice on the danger list will prompt more commitment from local, national and international actors to develop effective and sustainable corrective strategies.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will consider the recommendation at its meeting in September. Two years ago, the committee rejected a similar expert recommendation to place Venice on the so-called red list.
Venice and its surrounding lagoon have been on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage List since 1987.
Venice has seen repeated floods over the decades, especially in the autumn and winter months, although a flood protection system is now regularly protecting the low-lying city. Venice, known for its canals and cultural sites, has been struggling with mass tourism for years. On a single day during the 2019 Carnival, some 193,000 people squeezed into the historic centre. Venice has been preparing to introduce a fee for day-trippers to control visitor numbers, but has been delayed by objections.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre experts regularly review the state of the UN cultural agency's 1,157 World Heritage sites, and at a meeting in Riyadh in September, a committee of 21 UNESCO member states will review more than 200 sites and decide which to add to the danger list.
For nearly 10 of these sites, the experts recommend that member states put them on the danger list, among which already are the historic centre of Odessa, Ukraine, the town of Timbuktu in Mali, and several sites in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Other sites recommended to be put on the danger list this year are the cities of Kiev and Lviv in Ukraine.
Source: Qatar Tribune