Forwarded message:
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 1995 16:26:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Peter Stott <pstott@cormier.icomos.org>
Subject: 19th Session of the World Heritage Committee
The World Heritage Convention, formally the "Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage," is the primary instrument in international law protecting natural and cultural sites of "universal" significance. Signed in 1972, the Convention has been ratified by 143 countries, and 440 sites have been placed on the list of properties meriting the world's protection and management. The Convention's Secretariat, the World Heritage Centre, is established within the structure of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), headquartered in Paris.
Each year at this time, the World Heritage Committee meets to make additions to the World Heritage List, based on nominations by Parties to the Convention of sites in their territories that meet the Convention's rigorous criteria. Two NGOs are assigned the task of reviewing properties for their eligibility: IUCN-The World Conservation Union; and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). The Committee also reviews the reports made by IUCN and ICOMOS on conditions at existing World Heritage sites, and allocates monies from the World Heritage Fund for threatened World Heritage properties.
This year, the nineteenth annual session of the Committee is being hosted by the Government of Germany in Berlin. For the fourth year in a row, reports of each day's proceedings will be transmitted electronically to interested readers.
Beginning with the opening session of the Committee on Monday, December 4, reports from each day's proceedings will be posted to several different electronic media including the ICOMOS gopher (gopher://gopher. icomos.org/11/.icomos/wh/whc-reports/berlin), the mailing list 'usicomos', and Gen.landmarks, a conference on many of the networks of the Association for Progressive Communication, including Pegasus, EcoNet (IGC), GreenNet, Web, AlterNex, and Wamani.
This distribution is made possible through a grant from the Samuel H Kress Foundation. It has been organized with the support of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and its Canadian and U.S. national committees, ICOMOS Canada and US/ICOMOS.
The reports are those of an observer of the meetings and do not represent official publications of ICOMOS, the World Heritage Centre, or any dele- gation. Inquiries to the editor, Peter Stott <pstott@icomos.org> or fax to (49-30) 26 05 27 15 between December 4 and 12