To address the increasing number of threats numerous natural and cultural sites of exceptional value for humanity are facing, UNESCO in 1972 adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Today, 175 different countries are signatories to the Convention and a total of 730 sites (563 cultural sites, 144 natural sites and 23 mixed sites) are inscribed as World Heritage.
The same year, the launch of the very first civilian remote sensing satellite marked the beginning of a technological quest towards an ever better understanding and more painstaking monitoring of the evolution of our planet.
This website aims to demonstrate the usability of remote sensing for cartography, land cover change studies and support to World Heritage site management and conservation, using the example of 5 particular World Heritage sites. The sites chosen represent a wide variety of natural or cultural/historical characteristics: tropical forest, savannah and coastal area for the natural sites, a European historic center and an Islamic city for the cultural sites.

This website was developed in the light of the 30th anniversary of the UNESCO
Worl Heritage Convention and of civilian remote sensing satellites and in the framework of the conference Space Application for Heritage Conservation co--sponsored by UNESO and ESA (November 2002).

Project financed by the Belgian Federal Science Policy and realised by the Geography Department of Ghent University and Laboratory SURFACES of Geomatic Department of Liege University.

A leaflet is downloadable here (1,3 Mb).