A - Z of World Heritage

Mt Ruapehu at dusk

Advisory Bodies
Cultural landscapes
Cultural heritage
Defer
Inscription
Mixed cultural and natural heritage
Natural heritage
Nomination
Outstanding universal value
Refer
Serial property
State parties
Tentative list
Transboundary property
World Heritage Centre

Advisory Bodies
The Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee are:

• ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites), and
• IUCN (the World Conservation Union).

The Advisory Bodies' role includes advising on the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, assisting with the preparation of Committee meetings, monitoring the state of conservation of world heritage properties and evaluating world heritage site nominations.

Cultural landscapes
The concept of cultural landscapes was created in 1992 to categorise properties that combine the works of nature and of humans. It encapsulates sites which are the results of humanity's interaction with the environment over time, linking tangible and intangible values.

Cultural heritage
As defined in Article 1 of the World Heritage Convention:

• monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science
• groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science
• sites: works of humankind or the combined works of nature and humankind, and areas including archaeological sites that are of outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological points of view.

Defer
To 'defer' means that the Committee decides that a nomination needs more in-depth assessment, or a substantial revision by the state party. The nomination can be resubmitted to the World Heritage Centre the following year for revaluation by the relevant Advisory Body. The Advisory Body will then decide whether or not it should be placed before the Committee again, in a further year's time. There is a mandatory two year waiting period before the nomination may be resubmitted.

Inscription
The addition of a property to the World Heritage list.

Mixed cultural and natural heritage
Properties that incorporate both natural and cultural heritage values, as outlined in the World Heritage Convention.

Natural heritage
As defined in Article 2 of the World Heritage Convention:

• natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from an aesthetic or scientific point of view
• geological and physiographic formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation
• natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.

Nomination
A proposal by a state party to have a property inscribed on the World Heritage List. The property must first be on a country's tentative list before the Committee will consider its nomination.

Outstanding universal value
Outstanding universal value means cultural and/or natural significance that is so important that it goes beyond national boundaries and is of importance and value for all people of the world (present and future).

Refer
To 'refer' means that Committee requires additional information from the state party before the site can be inscribed onto the World Heritage List. The nomination may be resubmitted the following year for examination at the next Committee session.

Serial property
A serial property includes component parts related because they belong to either the same historico-cultural group; the same type of property that is characteristic of the geographical zone; the same geological or geomorphological formation; the same biogeographic province; or the same ecosystem type; and is a series as a whole (not necessarily the individual parts of it). A serial property may be nominated by one state party or multiple state parties.

State Parties
Countries that have ratified the World Heritage Convention. State parties have the responsibility to protect the world heritage values of their sites and report periodically on their condition.

Tentative list

Transboundary property
A property nominated by more than one state party, which crosses the boundaries of one or more state parties.

World Heritage Centre
The World Heritage Centre is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Convention and for the administration of the World Heritage Fund.

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