Status: 07/21/2021 1:13 p.m.
It is only the third time that this title has been withdrawn – now it is Liverpool: the city is removed from the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The reason are various construction projects, according to the World Heritage Committee.
UNESCO has withdrawn its World Heritage status from the port city of Liverpool. The responsible committee of the UN organization for education, science, culture and communication made the decision at its 44th meeting in Fuzhou, China. You can see the extraordinary value of the site damaged by various construction projects.
It is only the third time in the history of the World Heritage Convention of 1972 that a cultural or natural site has been deprived of its prestigious title.
Cancellation due to urban development project
Six locations in the historic center and in the port area of Liverpool have been on the World Heritage List since 2004. They testify to the development of one of the world’s major trading centers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Liverpool pioneered the development of modern dock technology, transport systems and port management. The city also played an important role in the growth of the British Empire.
Because of the city development project called “Liverpool Waters”, the construction of high-rise buildings, infrastructure projects and poor management, the status was already threatened. There was also criticism of a planned football stadium. Liverpool has been on the list of endangered sites as a maritime trading city since 2012. The renouncement of planning changes now led to the withdrawal of the title.
1120 cultural and natural sites in 167 countries
A UNESCO document states that it has long since lost its character, which led to it being classified as a world heritage site. The last time in 2009 was the Dresden Elbe Valley to be removed from the World Heritage List because of the construction of the Waldschlößchen Bridge. The first deletion was in 2007 for Oman because of the reduction in the size of the wildlife sanctuary for the rare Arabian oryx antelopes.
The World Heritage Committee is composed of 21 elected signatory states to the World Heritage Convention. As a rule, it decides annually on the registration of new cultural and natural sites and deals with the state of preservation of registered sites. After the deletion of Liverpool, 1120 cultural and natural sites in 167 countries are now on the list of UNESCO World Heritage. 51 of them are considered threatened. There are 46 world heritage sites in Germany.