The second regional course on Interpretive Planning at World Heritage properties in Europe has kicked off with an introductory webinar held on 7 and 8 June 2022. Organised by UNESCO through its Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, the course participants, consisting of 25 professionals working for diverse World Heritage sites across Europe and other experts, convened to reflect on the concepts and practices of heritage interpretation in the context of World Heritage.

In March 2022, the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe and the abrdn Charitable Foundation announced a 3-year partnership which includes an agreement to fund projects from UNESCO designated sites (Biosphere Reserves, Global Geoparks and Natural World Heritage sites). These will aim to promote sustainability through research, education and innovative solutions to environmental and climate change challenges. In May, the interdisciplinary project of this partnership, “Promoting Sustainable Development Through UNESCO’s Programmes and Sites”, passed its first important milestone: 5 UNESCO Designated sites were selected out of 25 applications from more than 20 countries for the first cycle of the project.

The UNESCO Living Heritage Entity is looking for a team of experts/evaluators to carry out a renewal evaluation of the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre based in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, SmartCulTour - Smart Cultural Tourism as a Driver of Sustainable Development of European Regions - supports regional development of sustainable cultural tourism in European destinations with important tangible and intangible cultural assets. Since February 2022, as partner of the project and Work Package 6 leader, UNESCO has kicked off capacity-building actions in 2 of the 6 Living Labs, namely the Metropolitan area of Split and the Municipality of Utsjoki.