Venice is once again on the radar of UNESCO, which has recommended the famous city be added to its list of World Heritage in Danger sites.
UNESCO experts have now recommended the canal city be added to the list because the group said officials in Italy are not doing enough to protect it from the effects of climate change and over-tourism, Reuters reported. Venice, which was spared the same fate in 2021, has been in UNESCO’s crosshairs for years.
“Resolution of long-standing but urgent issues is hindered by a lack of overall joint strategic vision for the long-term preservation of the property and low effectiveness of integrated coordinated management at all stakeholder levels,” UNESCO said, according to the wire service.
UNESCO recommends adding Venice to its list of World Heritage in Danger Sites
The last time the heritage group considered listing Venice as endangered, Italy declared the waterways around the city a “national monument” and banned large cruise ships from passing through its canals. The city has also made plans to introduce a day trip tax but has continually postponed its implementation.
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Additionally, Venice has built sea walls to keep out high tides, The New York Times reported.
UNESCO has called these measures “currently insufficient and not detailed enough,” according to Reuters, and said Italy “has not been communicating in a sustained and substantive manner since its last Committee session in 2021.”
Renato Brunetta, a former government minister who now leads a Venice-focused sustainability foundation, told the NYT the efforts the city has enacted make it more prepared than many other cities to weather climate change.
“Venice has been a more fragile city than the others,” Brunetta said. “Paradoxically now it’s the most secure.”
Venice isn’t the only city UNESCO has added to its World Heritage in Danger list. Earlier this year, the group inscribed the Ukrainian city of Odessa on the list. As a result, Odessa would receive reinforced technical and financial international assistance.
The group also added landmarks from Yemen and Lebanon to its endangered list.
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This story first appeared on travelandleisure.com
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