People Protecting World Heritage The World Heritage Convention was created in 1972 – nearly half a century ago – as a legal instrument to protect our most outstanding cultural and natural sites around the world. It has been adopted since by 194 countries, nearing universality. Concretely, the World Heritage Convention is implemented in myriad ways, big and small, by people around the world. In this issue, we introduce you to numerous individuals who dedicate their careers – even their lives – to taking care of these precious and fragile sites. This includes site managers on the ground, young people who run projects for hands-on heritage conservation or awareness raising to save sites, and civil society activists who protect sites, and the people who live near them, in difficult conditions.