Advocacy

Because of the wide range of challenges and disruptions taking place to effective heritage conservation in the US in recent years, World Heritage USA has found it necessary to elevate advocacy as a core activity.

With a network that includes monthly information sharing meetings with representatives of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Action, the National Association of State Historic Preservation Officers, the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, the Coalition for American Heritage, and many other important national heritage conservation organizations, World Heritage USA has publicly taken positions and issued statements on the following issues:

Recent Advocacy

Chaco Culture World Heritage Site Landscape Gains Temporary Protection

On June 2, 2023, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a 20-year withdrawal of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park and World Heritage Site from oil, gas and mineral extraction leasing via Public Land Order No.7923. The withdrawal will…

Controversial Monuments on Retrial (Collaboration)

Celebrate World Heritage Day with “Controversial Monuments on Retrial,” a free webinar about new approaches to addressing monuments of oppression. In collaboration with The Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ARCH International), and the staff of Memento Park in Budapest, Hungary, our panelists will analyze unique solutions applied to…

World Heritage USA Advocacy Update February 2023

By Tom Cassidy, Chair, Advocacy Committee Last summer, US/ICOMOS (now also known as World Heritage USA) and a group of other preservation minded advocacy groups transmitted a request to Senate appropriators in support of the World Heritage Program and the Biden Administration’s FY 2023 State Department budget request that would…

Success for World Heritage Advocacy

World Heritage Convention: the Next 50
Great news! After years of advocacy, the U.S. now has the opportunity to rejoin UNESCO, pay our back dues, and once again become a leader on World Heritage issues. First, a bit of history … For more than a decade the United States has not paid dues to the United…

Advocate for Chaco Landscape Protection

Aerial View of Chaco Culture National Historic Park and World Heritage Site
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has shared the following information about current legislation to protect the lands around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park and World Heritage Site. Please join in this effort! On November 17, 2022, members of the New Mexico congressional delegation re-introduced legislation, the Chaco Cultural…

US/ICOMOS and 17 Heritage Organizations Urge the Senate to Fully Fund the World Heritage Fund and UNESCO

U.S. Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS) American Anthropological Association ♦ American Institute of Architects ♦ The Archaeological Conservancy ♦ Archaeology Southwest ♦ Bethlehem World Heritage Commission ♦ Better World Campaign ♦ Coalition for American Heritage ♦ Cultural Heritage Partners ♦ Georgia State University World Heritage…

Transnistria Between Peace and War: Free Webinar 2 June 2022, 5 pm CEST

As part of a new US/ICOMOS series on heritage at risk, we are presenting “Transnistria Between Peace and War” with renowned Moldovan scholar Sergiu Musteață, Professor in the History and Geography Department at Ion Creanga Pedagogical State University in Chisinau, Moldova, and member of ICOMOS-Moldova.   The session will cover…