This year, the Stone Town of Zanzibar celebrates the 25th anniversary of its inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List. While much has been done to protect it over the past two and a half decades, major conservation challenges remain, requiring the support of the international community.
Together with the President of Zanzibar, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, we have agreed to strengthen cooperation between UNESCO and the archipelago, starting this year. Our Organization will deploy experts to draw up a comprehensive project for the development of the Stone Town. This will help mobilize new funding, speed up the restoration of the buildings and ensure the sustainable management of this heritage of outstanding universal value.
Audrey Azoulayduring a visit to the site.
The Director-General visited several UNESCO-supported restoration projects. These include the House of Wonders, the former ceremonial residence of Sultan Barghash, and the Majestic, Zanzibar's last cinema, which is to become a cultural and community reference center for the promotion of Swahili culture.
Together with the Zanzibar authorities, our aim is to complete the renovation of the Majestic within the next year, so that by 2027 it can host major events such as the Sauti za Busara festival and the International Film Festival.
Audrey AzoulayUNESCO Director-General
During a visit to the Slave Market Memorial, UNESCO's Director-General also underlined her desire to help pass on the memory, history and unique identity of Zanzibar, which has witnessed the blending of Swahili, Arab, Persian, Indian and European cultures. To this end, UNESCO will provide training for guides and other tourism professionals, heritage site managers and local associations.
UNESCO's assistance to Zanzibar will also focus on the environment, particularly in the Jozani Chwaka Biosphere Reserve, where UNESCO and the local authorities have decided to take joint action to protect marine and coastal ecosystems. Their action will be based on two priorities: safeguarding biodiversity and creating sustainable activities in the blue economy sector to improve people's livelihoods. Audrey Azoulay also encouraged the authorities to create a second UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the archipelago.
With its coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove forests, Tanzania's new Rumaki Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2023, sets an example.
Here, the knowledge and traditions of local communities, particularly women's cooperatives, have made it possible to develop activities such as seaweed farming, better protection of marine life and boosting ecotourism. It's a model that deserves to be duplicated elsewhere.
Audrey Azoulayduring her visit to Chole and the Mafia islands.
The Director-General also suggested to the President of Zanzibar that he mobilize UNESCO's International Center for the Blue Economy - created to mark the Decade of Ocean Sciences and currently being opened in Barcelona - to network Zanzibar's professionals with those in other regions of the world.
About UNESCO
With 194 Member States, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization contributes to peace and security by leading multilateral cooperation on education, science, culture, communication and information. Headquartered in Paris, UNESCO has offices in 54 countries and employs over 2300 people. UNESCO oversees more than 2000 World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks; networks of Creative, Learning, Inclusive and Sustainable Cities; and over 13 000 associated schools, university chairs, training and research institutions. Its Director-General is Audrey Azoulay.
"Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed" - UNESCO Constitution, 1945.
