ABSTRACT
The genius of the World Heritage Convention is its combination of natural and cultural heritage under one global instrument, an unusual approach in the 1970s when most governments dealt with culture and nature in separate departments. This chapter documents the early implementation of the Convention up to about 1980, a period when the focus was almost entirely on the creation of the World Heritage List. It provides the definitions of World Heritage of outstanding universal value and assigns responsibility to States Parties for identifying and managing World Heritage. The chapter makes States Parties responsible for the care of all heritages in their territory and identifies the duty to cooperate internationally. It calls for the making of inventories, a list of World Heritage in Danger and encourages education and raising awareness and sets out reporting requirements. The process for choosing exceptional sites was prepared under the leadership of UNESCO and the technical advisory bodies identified in the Convention text.
