Unesco experts have recommended that Venice and its lagoon be added to its list of World Heritage in Danger as Italy is not doing enough to protect the city from the impact of climate change and mass tourism. Unesco World Heritage Centre experts regularly review the state of the UN cultural agency’s 1,157 World Heritage sites, and at a meeting in Riyadh in September, a committee of 21 Unesco states will review over 200 sites and decide which to add to the danger list.
For nearly 10 of these sites, the experts recommend that member states put them on the danger list, among which already are the historic centre of Odessa, Ukraine, the town of Timbuktu in Mali, and several sites in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Other sites recommended to be put on the danger list this year are the cities of Kyiv and Lviv.
Unesco said corrective steps proposed by the Italian state are “insufficient”. A spokesman for the Venice municipality said it “will carefully read the proposed decision”.