The WHC meeting in Istanbul can be followed live via the links provided on this page:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/40COM/

Please use this topic to discuss the updates and proceedings of this year's WHC session.

Total chaos at the moment. They're testing the (computer and audio) system.

I see the new nominations will start at 10 am (Istanbul Time) on Friday and the discussion is scheduled to go through until Sunday evening.

My schedule was feeling a little empty after the conclusion of Euro 2016 and Wimbledon, so it is good to have something to fill the gap.

Has anything of substance been discussed / agreed yet? I'll not be able to listen in this week unfortunately...

Today they discussed the State of Conservation reports. I did not listen to it much.
Tomorrow they will decide whether to place new sites In Danger. "Nominated" for that are Dja Faunal Reserve (poaching, encroachment, Industrial and mining activities) and Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex (illegal logging of Siamese Rosewood).

Thx Els!

The only thing of note I picked up was that Liverpool's In Danger listing was elevated. There was the addition of an ultimatum that if progress wasn't made in amending the new buildings north of the centre then it will be removed from the list. I didn't catch if there was a deadline put on it though.

Lower Valley of the Omo escapes being put In Danger, due to Kuraz Sugar Cane project & lack of mapping where this project would have an effect.

Djenne in Danger (I did not follow the full discussion, but generally unsafe and hard to keep up the tradition)

Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore gets a reactive monitoring mission. Other Pakistani sites also not well (now talking about Makli, Thatta - "neglected for at least a decade")

I've only just been able to log in, but the feed is very jumpy for me.

The YouTube one seems to be better.

Now speaking about Shakrisyabz (Uzbek), "one of the worst cases of detoriation outside of war zones". Will it be put into Danger?

Tanzania even speaks about Deletion.

I missed if there were pictures of Shakhrisyabz, but it sounds like a disaster. 30% of inscribed monuments demolished, complete rebuilding of other sites without consultation.

Some delegates (Finland?) are suggesting the complete deletion of the site from the List, skipping even putting it on the In Danger List first.

Good speech of the Lebanese delegate, leads to applause (was strong in previous years too)

Pictures have been shown, but I haven't seen them also. Uzbekistan gets emotional now

Yep, I rather liked it, "Our focus is on Heritage Preservation not Politics". The very English sounding Portuguese delegate was also good in just snapping people into talking sense.

It was amazing that there was 30% of the buildings demolished yet some countries (Turkey & Kazakhstan) were saying it shouldn't even be placed on the "In Danger List".