The 47th session of the World Heritage Committee of the 1972 Convention was held from Sunday 6 July to Wednesday 16 July 2025. Kenya is a member of the World Heritage Committee comprised of 21 members from the 194 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention. The Kenya delegation was led by H.E. Ambassador Prof. Peter Ngure, Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Kenya to UNESCO, and included high level experts from the National Environment Management Authority, Kenya Wildlife Services, and the National Museums of Kenya.
The session included notable milestones for the Africa region. The Nairobi Outcome on Heritage and Authenticity was adopted by the World Heritage Committee. Committee members and observers congratulated and commended the Republic of Kenya for hosting the ground-breaking International Conference on Cultural Heritage in Africa: A Dialogue on the Concept of Authenticity in Nairobi, Kenya, 6 to 9 May 2025. The wealth of presentations from the contributions Conference proceedings were also underscored. The Committee decisions called for various stakeholders in the world heritage ecosystem as identified in the Outcome recommendations, to incorporate the Outcome and its insights.
The state of conservation decisions on Kenya’s World Heritage sites Thimlich Ohinga Archaelogical Site and the Kenya Lakes System in Great Rift Valley recognize, promote and strengthen conservation practices by the State Party. The Committee also underscored the importance of the “Mosi-ai-Tunya/Victoria Falls declaration”, Zambia, 2025, as guidelines for pursuing a balance between conservation and sustainable development in the management of world heritage sites. The session further saw the removal of three African sites from the List of World Heritage in Danger and the inscription of four new African sites among several exceptional new sites inscribed from other regions. Kenya was privileged to champion inscriptions for Malawi (Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape), Mozambique, South Africa (iSimangaliso Wetland Park– Maputo National Park), Australia (Murujuga Cultural Landscape), UAE (Faya Palaeolandscape), Vietnam (Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex of Monuments and Landscapes). Kenya further had the honor of supporting inscriptions by India (Maratha Military Landscapes of India), Brazil (Cavernas do Peruaçu), Italy (Funerary Tradition in the Prehistory of Sardinia – The domus de janas), Greece (Minoan Palatial Centres), Malaysia (Forest Research Institute Malaysia Forest Park Selangor), Panama (The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá) among others. The session also afforded opportunities for cultural diplomacy engagement and partnerships with UNESCO Member States, as well as enriching side events ushering the World Heritage Convention into a new era.
