Third cycle of UNESCO periodic reporting in the Russian Federation: reflection on the experience

Through their participation in the World Heritage system, cultural and natural heritage sites show willingness to follow main preservation concepts laid out in the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). One of the key instruments allowing to monitor implementation of this fundamental document is the Periodic Reporting procedure. While being a useful self-diagnostic tool for World Heritage objects, coordination of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting proved to be equally useful for the Heritage Institute as the National coordinator. Results of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting exercise allowed the Heritage Institute to determine main patterns and difficulties that Russian World Heritage objects came across. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the Third Cycle of UNESCO Periodic Reporting that the Russian Natural and Cultural World Heritage sites partook in 2023. Analysing experiences with the self-reporting mechanism of individual World Heritage sites is then used to create a set of recommendations for the Russian sites managers.