Venice Stays off World Heritage Danger List

Photo Credit: Manuel Silvestri/Reuters

Venice stayed off the United Nations Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s World Heritage in Danger list during Sept. 14’s UN agency meeting. 

Due to efforts from the Venetian government to combat flooding and a new plan to charge day-trippers, UNESCO opted not to move Venice from the World Heritage list to the World Heritage in Danger list. Because it is staying on the World Heritage list, Venice will continue to receive funding and protection from UNESCO.

Venice has been a World Heritage Site since 1987. But last July, UNESCO considered putting it on the in Danger list. According to UNESCO, the aim of its in Danger list is “to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.”

If the UNESCO World Heritage Committee concludes that a site on its in Danger list is not being properly protected, then it may lose its designation on the World Heritage list. This would result in loss of funding to maintain the site, legal protection, and UNESCO’s immediate protection.

Despite not making the in Danger list, Venice still faces many tangible threats. In a statement, UNESCO mentioned that “the effects of the continuing deterioration due to human intervention, including continuing development, the impacts of climate change and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes to the outstanding universal value of the property.”

Climate change also puts Venice at great risk of flooding. According to BBC, since water levels first started to be recorded in 1923, on only ten occasions have they reached five feet or higher. However, five of those instances occurred in the last three years. In November 2019, the city saw its second worst flood in 100 years; more than 80 per cent of the city was flooded. This cost the city over €1 billion in building damages and lost income.

Overtourism threatens the city as well. In 2022, around 4.5 million tourists visited Venice. In comparison, the city only has 50,000 residents, according to The New York Times. Because of the millions of tourists each year, locals have been relocating out of the city. In 1951, the population was at 175,000 — over three times what it is today. The cost of living has increased, transportation systems are overcrowded, and there is a lack of well-paying jobs.

Before the vote on whether to put Venice on the in Danger list, Berta de Sancristobal from the UNESCO World Heritage Center voiced that “the negative impacts of mass tourism reflected in the continued decline in local residents, leading to the alteration of the spirit of place and the loss of historic authenticity.”

“Coupled with a non-existent housing policy, living in Venice has become too difficult for many. Venice continues to lose two to three residents per day and the current population of 49,298 is now below the number of beds available for holiday makers (49,693),” wrote Jane Da Mosto, executive director of the We are here Venice ETS, in an open letter to UNESCO. We are here Venice ETS is a local organization based out of Venice, with the objective of keeping Venice a liveable city.

To control tourism, the city of Venice recently created an entrance fee of €5 for day trippers. The fee will be starting with a 30-day trial next spring. Additionally, large cruise ships have been banned from Venetian waters. This should further limit tourism, because in 2019, 667 cruise ships brought nearly 700,000 tourists to Venice. The city has also been tracking tourists using phone data and monitoring them through CCTV cameras to observe visitors movements in the city.

To combat flooding, the city is using Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico (MOSE), which translates to Experimental Electromechanical Module. The MOSE project is a system of sea-based barriers, each one 20 meters wide, intended to temporarily block Venice from the adriatic sea during high tides. The barriers rise to block incoming tides over 3.6 feet high. Work on MOSE started in 2003, but cost overruns and delays pushed its completion date from 2011 to 2025.

But the Union of Concerned Scientists is still arguing that Venice is not doing enough. They claim that the city’s crises “signal an alarming trend of nations not being held accountable for protecting some of the most iconic and irreplaceable natural and historic sites around the globe.” They state that Venice is still “increasingly vulnerable to severe flooding and water damage.”

During the UNESCO meeting, members of states complimented the actions that Venice took in conserving the city and opted to leave it off the in Danger list. Now, Italy must create a detailed plan to conserve Venice, which will be discussed at next year’s World Heritage Committee meeting. Luigi Brugnaro, the Mayor of Venice, said in a post on X: “Great victory at UNESCO!! Venice is not at risk. The commission’s misleading report was contradicted. The world has understood all the work we have done to defend our city, some of the opposition in Venice still hasn’t!”

However, many Venetians are frustrated with the outcome of the vote. Almost 5,000 people signed a petition asking for Venice to be put on the in Danger list. According to the petition, “[t]he out-of-control tourism machine makes big financial gains for few, against the common good and those who want to live in the city.”