Unesco recommends putting Venice on heritage danger list

The UN’s cultural agency has recommended that Venice be added to its list of world heritage in danger, saying the Italian authorities needed to step up efforts to secure the historic city and its surrounding lagoon.

Unesco said in its recommendation on Monday that Venice risked irreversible damage due to a string of issues ranging from the climate crisis to mass tourism. The recommendation will go to a meeting of Unesco’s world heritage committee in Riyadh in September for adoption.

“The effects of the continuing deterioration due to human intervention, including continuing development, the impacts of climate change and mass tourism, threaten to cause irreversible changes to the outstanding universal value of the property,” said Unesco.

“Some of these longstanding issues have already led to the deterioration of the inherent characteristics of the property and its attributes,” it said, warning that developments including high-rise buildings risked “having significant negative visual impact”.

“Moreover, the combined effects of human induced and natural changes are causing deterioration and damage to build structures and urban areas,” it added.

Unesco said that overall, there had been a lack of significant progress by Italy in addressing these issues and this had been further “hindered by a lack of overall joint strategic vision”.

A draft resolution prepared for adoption by the world heritage committee said there had not been “a significant level of progress in addressing the persistent and complex issues” and added that measures proposed by Italy were “still insufficient and need to be further developed”.

Unesco said it hoped inclusion on the danger list would “result in greater dedication and mobilisation of local, national and international stakeholders”.

The world heritage committee, which oversees the awarding of the coveted world heritage label to sites around the world, is due to meet in Riyadh from 10-25 September.

It is due to consider 53 new candidate sites for addition to the world heritage list.

The “in danger” label aims to encourage the better preservation of the site for the future. In exceptional circumstances a site can be stripped of its world heritage label if the steps are deemed unsatisfactory.