A global overview of tropical marine, coastal and small island ecosystems and the World Heritage List

A Global Strategy for a balanced and representative World Heritage List was adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 1994. Its aim is to ensure that the List reflects the world's cultural and natural diversity of outstanding universal value. Conferences and studies aimed at developing and implementing the Global Strategy have been held or are planned in Africa, the Pacific region, the Arab region, the Andean region, the Caribbean, central Asia and south-east Asia, and various thematic studies have also been carried out. The lUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), under the leadership of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is directing efforts to review the coverage coastal marine and small island ecosystems by the WHC using innovative multi-site based cluster and transborder approaches to prepare World Heritage area nominations.