What is UNESCO ?

Besides its support of educational and science programs, UNESCO is also involved in efforts to protect the natural environment and humanity’s common cultural heritage.

UNESCO also seeks to encourage the free exchange of ideas and knowledge by organizing conferences and providing clearinghouse and exchange services.

1) There are currently 1,092 world heritage sites. They are divided between 845 cultural, 209 natural, and 38 mixed sites.

In 2011 UNESCO approved full membership for Palestine. Following the vote, the United States announced that it would no longer pay dues to the organization, because of congressional legislation that prohibited the financing of any UN agency that admitted Palestine as a full member.

the United States lost its voting rights in UNESCO in 2013. In 2017 U.S. officials, citing “anti-Israel bias” and the size of U.S. arrears to the organization, announced that the United States would leave UNESCO again at year’s end. Israel itself remained a member.

For example, in the 1960s UNESCO helped sponsor efforts to save ancient Egyptian monuments from the waters of the Aswan High Dam, and in 1972 it sponsored an international agreement to establish a World Heritage List of cultural sites and natural areas that would enjoy government protection.

2) The country with the most world heritage sites is Italy with 54.

As many less-developed countries joined the UN beginning in the 1950s, UNESCO began to devote more resources to their problems, which included poverty, high rates of illiteracy, and underdevelopment.

3) There are 32 countries with at least 10 world heritage sites, 13 countries with at least 20 sites, 8 with at least 30 sites, and 5 with 40 or more.

During the 1980s UNESCO was criticized by the United States and other countries for its alleged anti-Western approach to cultural issues and for the sustained expansion of its budget. These issues prompted the United States to withdraw from the organization in 1984, and the United Kingdom and Singapore withdrew a year later.

In the 1980s a controversial study by UNESCO’s International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, headed by the Irish statesman and Nobel Peace laureate Seán MacBride, proposed a New World Information and Communication Order that would treat communication and freedom of information as basic human rights and seek to eliminate the gap in communications capabilities between developing and developed countries

4) The most sites inscribed to the list in a single year was 61 in 2000.

Each member state has one vote in UNESCO’s General Conference, which meets every two years to set the agency’s budget, its program of activities, and the scale of contributions made by member states to the agency

5) The fewest sites inscribed to the list in a single year was 7 in 1989.

After the election victory of the Labour Party in 1997, the United Kingdom rejoined UNESCO, and the United States and Singapore followed suit in 2003 and 2007, respectively. In 2011 UNESCO approved full membership for Palestine. Following the vote, the United States announced that it would no longer pay dues to the organization, because of congressional legislation that prohibited the financing of any UN agency that admitted Palestine as a full member.

The 58-member Executive Board, which is elected by the General Conference, generally meets twice each year to give advice and direction to the agency’s work. The Secretariat is the agency’s backbone and is headed by a director general appointed by the General Conference for a six-year term.

7) The largest world heritage site is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in Kiribati with an area of 408,250 km2.

About 200 national commissions, composed of local experts, serve as governmental advisory bodies in their respective states. Most work occurs in special commissions and committees convened with expert participation.

The site is mostly ocean as the actual land area of Kiribati is only 811 km2. The size of this site is slightly larger than Paraguay.

Because of its unpaid dues, the United States lost its voting rights in UNESCO in 2013. In 2017 U.S. officials, citing “anti-Israel bias” and the size of U.S. arrears to the organization, announced that the United States would leave UNESCO again at year’s end. Israel itself remained a member.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (1961– ), the World Commission on Culture and Development (1992–99), and the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (1998– ).

The smallest world heritage site is the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Czech Republic which has an area of 200 m2. I was able to walk around the entire column in 52 seconds and a slow walking pace (yes, I timed it!)

9) The site which is spread across the most countries is the Struve Geodetic Arc which is spread across 10 countries: Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Moldova, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine.

Besides its support of educational and science programs, UNESCO is also involved in efforts to protect the natural environment and humanity’s common cultural heritage. For example, in the 1960s UNESCO helped sponsor efforts to save ancient Egyptian monuments from the waters of the Aswan High Dam, and in 1972 it sponsored an international agreement to establish a World Heritage List of cultural sites and natural areas that would enjoy government protection.

10) The country with the highest percentage of its area on the world heritage list is Vatican City, which is over 100%. The reason it is over 100% is that they actually have two world heritage sites.