World Monuments Fund Study Names Funding Crisis Top Heritage Threat

Insufficient public funding is the single biggest threat to heritage sites worldwide, outstripping climate hazards and expertise gaps, according to a new study released this week by the World Monuments Fund (WMF).

The research forms part of the nomination process for the WMF's forthcoming 2027 World Monuments Watch list, due to be announced in February. The list has drawn 372 nominations — nearly double the figure for 2025. Since 1996, WMF has published the Watch list every two years to address funding gaps in cultural preservation.

Of the 372 nominators, 65 percent cited funding shortages and economic development as a primary challenge, up from 55 percent in 2024.

"This year's nominations show that pressures on heritage are intensifying as funding, capacity, and expertise struggle to keep pace," WMF president and chief executive Bénédicte de Montlaur said in a statement. "According to findings in the UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies, only one in four countries has the means to safeguard its heritage. Communities are being asked to do more with less as climate change accelerates, and the skills needed to care for these places are being lost. These findings are a call to action, and they will help guide where our work is needed most."

De Montlaur laid the blame partly on retreating state budgets. "We are seeing governments, particularly in Europe and the US (which have been some of the most supportive of heritage preservation), reducing or stopping national and international funding for public resources," she told The Art Newspaper. "In that environment, culture and heritage are often among the first to face cuts."

She called for broadening funding through partnerships with individuals, foundations and corporations at the international level. "The most promising models bring the public sector together with governments and local communities, and highlight how heritage intersects with economic development, climate change, tourism management and other important societal issues beyond the cultural field," she said.

The study argues that while cuts to heritage deliver short-term savings, heritage underpins long-term economic resilience, and such cuts generate greater socioeconomic losses over time. More than 60 percent of nominators identified opportunities for heritage sites to support local economies through sustainable tourism, urban revitalization and job creation.

Lack of technical expertise ranked second among threats, cited by roughly 35 percent of nominators. The WMF says the gap underscores the need to train the next generation in conservation and traditional craftmaking.

Extreme weather events — flooding, storms, droughts and wildfires — ranked third, at around 30 percent. The problem is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa. For sites in both the Middle East and Africa, conflict and peace-building also count among the top concerns.

"Preserving heritage is not only about restoring monuments; it is about safeguarding the stories and landmarks that connect generations," Clément Rouxel, general delegate of the AXA Foundation for Human Progress, said in a statement.

The funding picture is stark at the international level. UNESCO has approved an average of $1 million per year in international assistance funds for World Heritage sites — now totaling 1,273 — since 1978.

Brinda Somaya, chair of the World Monuments Watch International Expert Panel, framed the stakes in terms of community identity. "The key challenges identified through WMF's Watch nomination analysis—such as severe underfunding and escalating climate hazards—pose serious risks not only to our global heritage but to the communities that care for them," she said. "Many of these sites carry within them the memory, resilience, and identity of the communities associated with them. Their protection therefore goes beyond the conservation of a place; it calls for thoughtful advocacy, technical expertise, resources, and partnerships that can help sustain their significance for the future."

The findings will shape the selection of the 2027 Watch list in February, when the WMF decides where its advocacy and conservation resources will be directed next.