The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has called on governments to increase the protection given to World Heritage sites. Speaking at the Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), ICMM’s CEO, Tom Butler said: “The congress theme Planet at the crossroads stresses that business as usual is not an option and ICMM agrees.

“Our members voluntarily decided in 2003, not to mine or explore in World Heritage sites. Yet 13 years later, other companies and industries are still operating in these precious sites. The conservation of World Heritage sites is a collective responsibility we all share and ICMM wants to see more movement from governments to protect them.”

Since the first World Heritage sites were listed in 1978, only two of the 192 countries that have ratified the World Heritage convention¹ have enshrined this protection in domestic legislation – South Africa and Australia. This is against a backdrop of a rapid decline in the world’s fauna. WWF’s Living Planet Report found that wildlife populations have halved since 1970².

While 23 leading mining companies have voluntarily made a commitment not to mine or explore in World Heritage sites, their voluntary action alone is not enough to safeguard these sites. ICMM and IUCN commissioned an independent report by Dr Stephen Turner on world heritage. It recommended that countries incorporate their commitments under the World Heritage Convention in their national legislation³.

The picture (by Clive Finlayson) shows the Gorham’s Cave Complex in the UK.

1. The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since then, 192 states parties have ratified the convention.
2. WWF Living Planet Report, 2014 http://www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/other_publications/living_planet_report_2014/#.V8aoVU36vIU
3. Dr Stephen Turner’s report: World Heritage sites and the extractive industries is available at: http://www.icmm.com/publications/pdfs/3787.pdf