18 November 2014: UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Natural World Heritage sites provide climate stability and support economic and human well-being, according to the first-ever assessment of the benefits and ecosystem services provided by these sites. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released the report at its World Parks Congress, which is taking place from 12-19 November in Sydney, Australia.

The report, ‘The benefits of natural world heritage: identifying and assessing ecosystem services and benefits provided by the world’s most iconic natural places,’ features 23 case studies on ecosystem services and benefits, the economic valuation of ecosystem services, and governance and management. Cases range from forests that store carbon to areas that create jobs and provide income from recreation and tourism.

Sixty-six percent of the natural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage list provide clean water for nearby communities, according to the report. Approximately half of the sites help prevent natural disasters: 48% deliver soil stabilization benefits, while 45% provide flood prevention benefits, such as mangrove coastlines that facilitate flood protection.

The report uses data compiled by the UN Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) to analyze the carbon and water storage provided by sites. It finds World Heritage sites contain higher forest biomass carbon density on average than the remaining protected area network in tropical biomes, underscoring the role of the World Heritage network in carbon storage and climate mitigation.

The report “show[s] that natural World Heritage is much more than a list of iconic sites with outstanding biodiversity and natural beauty,” emphasized IUCN’s World Heritage Programme Director, Tim Badman. He explained, “recognizing their crucial role in supporting our well-being reinforces the need to boost our efforts to conserve these places.” The report cautions that benefits provided by World Heritage sites decrease as a result of landscape changes and resource over-exploitation, underscoring the cost-effectiveness of preserving such sites.

Natural World Heritage sites are included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for their natural values, including intactness of ecological processes, scale of natural habitats, viability of populations of rare species and exceptional natural beauty. Germany’s Federal Agency for Nature Conservation provided financial support for the study. [IUCN Press Release] [Publication: The benefits of natural world heritage: identifying and assessing ecosystem services and benefits provided by the world’s most iconic natural places] [IISD RS Coverage of World Parks Congress]