Jaeger-LeCoultre reaffirms its support to the World Heritage Marine Programme

40 years after the adoption of the Convention, there are now 962 World Heritage Sites around the planet. With general theme “World Heritage and Sustainable Development the Role of Local Communities”, the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention started in November 2011, highlights achievements but also future challenges. To conclude the 40th anniversary year, a conference is held in Kyoto from 6-8 November.

When it launched the Master Compressor Diving, Jaeger-LeCoultre discovered magnificent, pristine underwater environments. The brand soon became aware of the urgent need to preserve these fragile environments and their biodiversity.

In this regard, since 2008 Jaeger-LeCoultre has entered into a partnership with the Unesco World Heritage Centre to support the preservation of outstanding marine sites that are in immediate need of protection and raise international awareness of this environmental cause.

Jaeger-LeCoultre has joined the International Herald Tribune in publishing information about the eight selected Unesco World Heritage sites in its “Tides of Time” section. To reach a large audience, a nano-site comprising interactive news features, profiles, video reports and interviews concerning Tides of Time Programme has been developed on the New York Times website (nytimes.com).

In addition, Jaeger-LeCoultre provides a direct financial support for marine World Heritage site managers thanks to the auction of a unique Jaeger-LeCoultre watch. The proceeds from the sale are entirely donated to a marine protected area.

In 2012, Jaeger-LeCoultre organized its 4th annual online auction of a unique watch: Prototype N°1 of the Deep Sea Vintage Chronograph. The proceeds from the sale were entirely donated to the Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park in the Philippine and devoted to equipment purchases – zodiac type inflatable boat, GPS and hand held sonar equipment, dive gear including tank and air compressor – and a specialized dive training for two of the parks staff who will be implementing the monitoring exercises in Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park.

From 6-8 November 2012, during the closing conference in Kyoto, Jaeger-LeCoultre will present its partnership with UNESCO to reaffirm its support to the World Heritage Marine Programme and focus attention on this action.

On November 6, Jaeger-LeCoultre publishes a special page on the Ogasawara islands located in Japan in collaboration with the International Herald Tribune. Located some 1,000 km south of the main Japanese Archipelago, the property numbers more than 30 islands clustered in three groups and covers surface area of 7,939 hectares. The islands offer a variety of landscapes and are home to a wealth of fauna, including the Bonin Flying Fox, a critically endangered bat, and 195 endangered bird species. Four-hundred and forty-one native plant taxa have been documented on the islands whose waters support numerous species of fish, cetaceans and corals.

On the occasion of this anniversary, Jaeger-LeCoultre reiterates its wish to continue the collaboration with UNESCO for the protection of the world heritage and extend its commitment: various new projects will be developed in 2013.

Launched in 2005, the World Heritage Marine Programme aims to establish effective conservation of existing and potential marine areas of Outstanding Universal Value to make sure they will be maintained and thrive for generations to come. Today, the 46 marine World Heritage sites cover about 1/4 by area of all 6,000 marine protected areas (MPAs) on the planet. They have the highest internationally recognized status for conservation and represent the Crown Jewels of the Ocean, a network of sites that is selected and held accountable for its management actions through a rigorous monitoring and evaluation process set against the highest standards of international best practice.

Between 2009-2012, the Tides of Time partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre and the International Herald Tribune and the additional support of the Government of Flanders (Belgium) enabled the World Heritage Centre to lay the foundation for a solid future for its Marine Programme. Since 2009, the Centre has:

• Doubled the marine area protected under the 1972 World Heritage Convention: the World Heritage List now includes 5 of the 10 largest MPAs in the World;

• Established a substantial marine World Heritage site managers community by pooling their wealth of expertise and management successes together through a web-based forum and bi-annual meetings where concrete results are shared and communicated;

• Developed science-based guidance to support States Parties in nominating new potential marine World Heritage sites and help sites implement the latest management tools and technologies;

• Achieved unprecedented recognition for the largely unexplored potential of the 1972 World Heritage Convention for ocean conservation among NGOs and the wider public;

• Launched a roadmap to scale up management capacity, making marine World Heritage sites ready to cope with increasingly challenging ocean environments;

• Started new projects to develop twinning arrangements between marine sites to work jointly on conservation challenges, in particular in Banc d’Arguin, the Wadden Sea, Phoenix Islands, Papahanaumokuakea, Tubbataha and the Great Barrier reef.