Liverpool loses UNESCO World Heritage status

• Liverpool becomes only the 3rd site to lose its World Heritage status since the list began in 1978, the other two being Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009.
• A UN committee found developments threatened the value of the city's waterfront.
• The decision was made following a secret ballot by the Unesco committee at a meeting in China.

Criteria for selection in World Heritage sites

• The main criterion for nomination is that the site must have outstanding universal value.
• The countries themselves apply for inclusion of a site in the list and this application is then evaluated.
• The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is responsible for recommending cultural sites and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) selects natural sites.
• The two councils make their recommendations.
• Finally, The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which is made up of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the convention, decides on inclusion of a site.

Liverpool and World Heritage status:

• The six areas in the historic centre and docklands of the maritime mercantile City of Liverpool were included on the World Heritage List in 2004.
• The areas of the heritage site were the world’s major trading centres in the 18th and 19th centuries, a testimony to the development of maritime mercantile culture.
• The modern dock technology, transport systems and port management were the significant features of the maritime city.
• Large-scale infrastructure projects, including the Liverpool Waters residential and office complex as well as the Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium, would mean a loss of the character of the ""maritime mercantile city"" of Liverpool — due to which the status has been stripped- A UNESCO commission report.
• Unesco placed the city on its “in danger” list in 2012, citing the planned Liverpool Waters mixed-use redevelopment of parts of the waterfront near the city center.

Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972 (World Heritage Convention)

• The Convention aims to identify and protect the world's natural and cultural heritage considered to be of Outstanding Universal Value.
• It embodies a visionary idea – that some places are so important that their protection is not only the responsibility of a single nation, but is also the duty of the international community as a whole.
• The convention strives to achieve its goal by following:

1. It sets out the duties of States Parties in identifying potential World Heritage sites situated on their territory
2. Identifies their role in protecting and preserving them.
3. Encourages State Parties to integrate the protection of the cultural and natural heritage into regional planning programmes,
4. Encourages State Parties to set up staff and services at their sites, and to undertake scientific and technical conservation research
5. Encourages State Parties to adopt measures which give this heritage a function in the day-to-day life of the community.

• The Convention also lays out a management framework of oversight by and support from the World Heritage Committee.