Biodiversity Importance - UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Overview

Detailed Specifications

Explanation

UNESCO World Heritage Sites are landmarks or areas that have been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for their outstanding cultural, historical, scientific, or natural significance. These sites are considered to be of exceptional value to humanity and are therefore protected under international treaties. Businesses should be aware of UNESCO WHS near operational sites as proximity to heritage site can imply regulations and restrictions. CSRD specifies UNESCO WHS as biodiversity-sensitive areas.

Transformation & Interpretation

By default, a 5km radius around the business site is screened for the occurrence of biodiversity-sensitive areas, including UNESCO WHS. Closer biodiversity-sensitive areas mean a higher concern level according to the following default logic:

UNESCO differentiates between Cultural Sites, Natural Sites and Mixed Sites. For the determination of the biodiversity importance concern level only Natural Sites and Mixed Sites are considered. Natural and Mixed Sites fulfill at least one of the following criteria:

• “to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;”
• “to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;”
• “to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.”

Additionally to the above proximity analysis and resulting concern level, the following contextual information is provided as part of the indicator:

• The exact distance between the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the business site coordinate
• How much of the search area (1-5km radius) is covered by World Heritage Sites. The coverage is provided in absolute (ha) and relative terms (how much percent of the search area is covered by World Heritage Sites). If the World Heritage Sites is only provided as a point coordinate (without surrounding area), no coverage metric is provided.
• Some UNESCO World Heritage Sites include buffer zones. These buffer zones are an integral component to the protection and conservation of UNESCO sites. The biodiversity importance indicator treats buffer zones like the UNESCO sites themselves and considers these areas when determining the concern level. The buffer zones are also included on the indicator map and list.

Please note that the same biodiversity-sensitive area can have multiple official designations, which is why the same area name may appear under different BSA categories in Nala. For example, a Ramsar Site may also be part of a Natura 2000 area or a Natura 2000 area may be protected under both the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Because each designation has a different legal meaning, Nala shows all applicable designations separately which can result in the same area name beign featured multiple times in the list of nearby biodiversity-sensitive areas.

Source

The spatial data on UNESCO WHS sites is provided by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention

Date of publication

2023

Confidence & Accuracy

High. UNESCO World Heritage Sites spatial data is provided by UNESCO itself implying high accuracy of the data. However, some UNESCO WHS are represented only by a coordinate rather than a polygon outlining the extent of the site. In such cases, the indicator might fail to detect these sites if the coordinate falls outside the screening radius, even though part of the actual site would fall within radius. This issue is mitigated by applying a large default search radius of 5 km.

Relevance for CSRD

CSRD requires companies to identify operational sites located in or near biodiversity-sensitive areas that negatively affecting these areas.

Biodiversity-sensitive areas (BSA) are defined as:

• Natura 2000 network of protected areas
• UNESCO World Heritage sites
• Key Biodiversity Areas (‘KBAs’)
• other protected areas

Biodiversity-sensitive areas are relevant under:

CSRD requires companies to consider and describe the data used in their analysis (ESRS E4 AR 27). For convenience, here a description of for the relevant criteria:

Relevance for TNFD

Proximity to UNESCO WHS sites is a suitable indicator to estimate the criteria Biodiversity Importance within TNFD’s LOCATE step.

Relevance for SBTN

Proximity to UNESCO WHS are not directly relevant as a State of Nature indicator for Step 1: Assess and Step 2: Interpret & Prioritize. Nevertheless, the proximity of UNESCO WHS provides additional qualitative information on an areas biodiversity importance and integrity which can complement other biodiversity State of Nature indicators.