The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(
UNESCO)
seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around
the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.
What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application.
World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory
on which they are located. This is embodied in an
international treaty
named the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,
adopted by UNESCO in 1972.