In November 2002, the Getty Conservation Institute, English Heritage, and UNESCO's World Heritage Center (WHC) organized a workshop in Padua, Italy, on World Heritage Site management. This was one of nine associated workshops held in different Italian cities in the days preceding the International Venice Congress—organized by UNESCO's WHC and the government of Italy to mark the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage Convention).

Thirty-three experts from 17 countries participated in this site management workshop. Working in small discussion groups, participants examined World Heritage site management needs, reviewed existing site management guidance, and identified the major gaps in site management tools and guidelines. At the conclusion of the workshop, recommendations were adopted with the aim of increasing the professional capacity of those responsible for World Heritage Site conservation for the future.

For a complete list of the site management workshop's recommendations, as well as information on the associated workshops and the International Venice Congress, please visit the World Heritage Web site at whc.unesco.org/venice2002/.