What does the World Heritage Convention do?
The World Heritage Convention seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of 'outstanding value to humanity'. The Convention sets out the duties of state parties (countries who have ratified the Convention), in identifying potential sites and their role in protecting and preserving them.
The Convention also obligates states parties to report regularly to the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation of their world heritage properties.