by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:55 PM ET, Thu August 3, 2023
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) issued a recommendation that the Italian city of Venice
and its lagoon should be added to its list of World Heritage in Danger sites.
According to The
New York Times, UNESCO World Heritage Center experts will meet in September
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to decide whether Venice should be added to the danger
list due to overtourism and the impact of climate change.
Experts from UNESCO said Italy is failing to protect the
historic sites in Venice, as the country’s measures are “insufficient and not
detailed enough.” The organization’s spokesperson said that Italy has failed to
communicate in a “sustained and substantive manner,” despite previous efforts
to add the city to the danger list.
UNESCO hopes local and national stakeholders use the
decision to consider adding Venice to the list this year to address
long-standing issues. Municipality representatives from the Italian city said
they would “carefully read the proposed decision” and “discuss it with the
government.”
“Resolution of long-standing but urgent issues is hindered
by a lack of overall joint strategic vision for the long-term preservation of
the property and low effectiveness of integrated coordinated management at all
stakeholder levels,” a UNESCO spokesperson said.
Venice has been dealing with overtourism
since before the coronavirus pandemic, but the numbers have bounced back since
international travel reopened. In 2019, around 193,000 people filled the city’s
center in one day.
In total, a committee of 21 UNESCO member states will review
more than 200 sites at the September meeting and decide which will be added to
the danger list.
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