World Heritage Sites
World Heritage Sites are at the core of the World Heritage Convention, adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and to which 180 nations belong. Through the Convention, UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of the cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. The World Heritage List, under the management of an inter-governmental World Heritage Committee, recognises that some places are important enough to be the responsibility of the international community.
There are currently over 800 World Heritage sites of which around 160 are natural. Inclusion in the World Heritage List is essentially honorific, for outstanding universal value, authenticity and integrity, with a prerequisite being legal protection and firm management plans. The UK currently has 25 World Heritage Sites.
St. Kilda has been designated for both its cultural importance and for its natural heritage. It is one of only a handful of sites in the world.
Nominations for the World Heritage List are made by the appropriate state parties, subject to rigorous evaluation by the World Heritage Committee and for natural sites the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Although the care of Scotland's historic and natural heritage is a devolved issue the nomination of bodies for inscription to the World Heritage Committee is reserved to the Department of Culture Media & Sport as State Party for the whole of the United Kingdom. Scottish Ministers, advised by Historic Scotland and SE Rural Directorate, do however propose Scottish sites for inclusion on the Tentative List. There is a commitment to review the Tentative list and the Executive, along with the other devolved administrations, will be part of this review and will be able to influence it.
UNESCO has also established a network of Biosphere Reserves as representatives of natural habitats characteristic of the world's natural regions. They are intended to reconcile conservation of wildlife with its sustainable use. Nine sites have been identified in Scotland: all of them are NNRs, such as Rum and Beinn Eighe, and they are at present under review.