Experts warn that climate change and human activities threaten many irreplaceable heritage sites globally.
Some of humanity’s most irreplaceable places are edging toward a point of no return. UNESCO keeps a running “List of World Heritage in Danger” to flag sites facing severe and specific threats—and the roster was formally updated at the 47th World Heritage Committee session on July 13, 2025, according to UNESCO.
What’s pushing these landmarks to the brink isn’t just neglect. Climate change has overtaken other pressures as the top threat to natural World Heritage, as stated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), while UNESCO’s latest analysis underscores how fire-driven forest loss—fueled by a warming world—has surged across World Heritage landscapes.