UNESCO World Heritage Committee convenes in Busan to review 30 nominations

The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee opened on 19 July in Busan, South Korea. Chaired by former Korean diplomat Lee Byung‑hyun with Jamaica’s Ashley Jones as secretary, the meeting will consider 30 nominations – 22 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed – including emergency recommendations.

Among the sites under review is Japan’s likely new inscription of the Asuka‑Fujiwara Palace City. Other notable items include the expansion of Korea’s Geobul tidal flat and Germany’s Berlin Modernist public housing, a criteria change request for Gabon’s Garamba National Park, and emergency nominations for South Sudan’s animal migration landscape and Palestine’s Sebastia.

Three countries – Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Sudan – could become new heritage holders, with specific sites such as São Tomé’s plantation landscape and the Comoros’ cultural property under consideration. Conflict‑related properties, including Ukraine’s war‑affected sites and Palestine’s Sebastia, also feature on the agenda.