As we often say, apathy toward public issues and world affairs is really the greatest enemy that democracy faces. However, downright enmity toward one of our cherished institutions warrants examination to seek what may trigger the fantasies of fear. Alleged by some of these fear mongers is that the U.N. is taking over, piece-by-piece, portions of valuable U.S. real estate -- even Yellowstone National Park!

The factual germ upon which this wild tale is built is undoubtedly the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and National Heritage adopted at the General Conference of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) in Stockholm in 1972. (The U.S. was the first to ratify this treaty-level convention.) The "World Heritage List," as of December 1997, lists 552 properties: 418 cultural, 114 natural and 20 mixed properties in 112 different nations. U.S. properties so listed number 18, of which all but six are "natural" -- Yellowstone National Park included.

Nominations for the World Heritage List must come from the country itself and must meet very specific criteria, including a pledge from the home country to make every effort to preserve the beauty or historical integrity of the property. Most countries vie for the honor and recognition of having their favorite sites designated for the list. International tourism is a frequent byproduct of such designation -- which must partly explain why a number of major donors to the World Heritage Fund are major hotel chains. The Fund may be tapped by nations too poor to underwrite necessary maintenance work and in which the entire world has an obvious interest. The current work on the Taj Mahal in India, the Sphinx in Egypt, and Venice and its lagoon in Italy, serve as a few obvious examples of why the world as a whole has a stake in the maintenance of its treasures.

The world shows its interest in Yellowstone National Park not only by having it listed chronologically as its second (1978) U.S. honoree, but also by placing it on the Heritage-in-Danger List in 1995 because of "over visitation by tourists"! Clearly, even U.N. critics will concede that UNESCO can't close our park, but their concern that we ration access in the interest of all may be a wake-up call for preservation. We would hope that we wouldn't need the interest of "the world" to prevent oil exploration in the crater of Old Faithful!

Preserving World Heritage sites was a project begun by UNESCO in 1960 in Egypt at Abu Simbel when major monuments were cut, lifted, and reassembled on the high ground before the area was submerged by waters of the Nile in the building of the Aswan Dam. An exhibit of photographs of many of these projects adorned the walls of the public lobby at the United Nations Headquarters in April and May of 1998.