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The World Heritage Convention is one of the five global multilateral environmental agreements (the others being the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the Convention on Migratory Species). The World Heritage Convention focuses on conservation of outstanding natural and cultural heritage by recognizing the world's best heritage areas on the World Heritage List, as well as by encouraging heritage conservation at the national level. Only States Parties on the Convention can nominate sites to the World Heritage List. Natural sites normally need to be National Parks or otherwise legally- protected and managed areas. The concept of customary or traditional management is also starting to gain acceptance with the Convention as a recognized protection mechanism.

UNESCO's ethical and intellectual mandate and its role in standard setting and policy advocacy - combined with on-the- ground action projects and capacity-building initiatives of various kinds - provide it with special responsibilities as well as opportunities in respect to the alleviation of poverty. And more particularly in contributing to the first of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that of eradicating poverty, especially the halving of extreme poverty by 2015.