The World Heritage Committee’s 44th session took place virtually from 16 to 31 July. It covered issues left outstanding since last year, when the annual meeting was postponed due to COVID-19. The extended session was chaired by Tian Xuejun, China’s Vice Minister for Education and Director of China’s National Commission for UNESCO. The session looked at 42 nominations to the World Heritage List (24 submitted for 2020 and 18 for 2021).
They consisted of 35 cultural, 6 natural and 1 mixed (both cultural and natural) sites. Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City, England was removed from the list on July 21; it the third site to have been removed in the history of the organisation. The removal was related to concerns of the development of the area that compromised its “historic authenticity”. Meanwhile Venice and the Great Barrier Reef avoided slipping into the list of endangered sites.