World Heritage Site

We have had a Forum topic called ‘Aspiring to be on the Tentative List’ already since 2008. It is filled with mentions of places around the world that have publicly announced to aspire to World Heritage status, but are not on their country’s Tentative List yet. Honestly, I never took those very seriously, as they were often proposed by locals after a few drinks without any further thought or follow-up.

But I feel something in the ‘Road to WHS’ has fundamentally changed over the past few years. Countries seem to keep their cards close to their chest longer than before. For a WH traveller, it can now be more worthwhile to be aware of these Aspiring TWHS (ATWHS) than to look at a current but aged Tentative List. On my recent short trip to Poland for example, I already added a Cluniac site (Tyniec Abbey) to the itinerary as it lies next to Krakow and it has a high chance of being nominated for WHS within the next 5 years.

What kind of ATWHS are we looking at?

Winterkjm last year already gave a great non-exhaustive summary of sites in the running. We see:

• Sites in Limbo: often it takes a lot of time between a new Tentative List being declared, and it being publicized on the UNESCO website. I don’t know where the delay is – maybe there is a bit of going back and forward between the two as they also have to deliver a description nowadays. I also wonder about the dating: the recently (March 2023) added Padang Civic Ensemble (Singapore) has been retrospectively given the submission date of 15/09/2022.
• Sites that are part of large transnational serial nominations: These projects have become succesful over the past couple of years and are now copied all over the place. They take many years and many (often well-publicized) international meetings to take their definitive shape. Still, we know of a number of them that are seriously working towards a nomination without any or all of the sites being on a Tentative List. Think of the Cluniac sites and the Workers Assembly Buildings.
• Sites in non-acceding countries: there are countries that are already pondering possible nominations, but they have not ratified the WH convention yet (Tuvalu, Nauru) or are not a member of UNESCO (see the recent Taiwan discussion ; it would also include Liechtenstein but I would be hesitant to add any other 'countries' besides perhaps Kosovo -> for further discussion use this existing topic). This country could get its own country page plus a listing of its ATWHS - only if it has any that comply with the criteria outlined in the next paragraph.

How to proceed?

I’d like to give this kind of sites a place on the existing country pages because when you are preparing a WHS-related trip to a certain country nowadays it would be a mistake to disregard these ATWHS.

It would be necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff - I don't want the country pages to become just a list of random 'things to see'. I consider meeting one of the following indicators as being serious:

• Official additions made public by a government source, but not updated on the UNESCO website yet.
• Have a nomination website already where progress can be followed.
• Named as a serial extension on the official tentative site of another country.
• Has backing from the applicable central government body. Not come from a local/regional source only.
• Has involvement by UNESCO or one of its Advisory Bodies already.

Testing this for the 20 most recent entries at the ‘Aspiring’ topic, the Maungaroa Valley (Cook Islands), Tanger (Morocco), and Mekong (Cambodia)  would make the cut. All others are mostly local initiatives, although some (Duomo di Milano, Léon) are more serious than others.

There are also a few ATWHS ‘hidden’ in their respective country forum topics, such as the Central Victorian Goldfields (Australia) with a bid website lining up for a new Australian Tentative List. And Cape York (Australia) and Quandamooka (Australia) are backed by the Queensland government. I would propose to keep tracking this kind of selection stages per country towards a new Tentative List in the country's Forum topic, but maybe summarize the candidates and their progress a bit more often than now.

The first step would be just listing the selected ATWHS under their own header ‘Aspiring TWHS’ on the country page (under the Tentative List, but above the FTWHS). We could give each its own site page already too, which would allow for reviews. Solivagant and winterkjm already publicly stated on the Forum that they have reviews waiting for Navan Fort and Busan respectively! If technically feasible, we could also add their locations to the country maps (with a marker in a different colour).

What do you think of listing ATWHS on the country pages? Would you like to be able to add your reviews already, or wait til they are officially declared?