Following 6 months of meetings, statements, global thematic webinars and discussions of the Draft Ministerial Declaration, the 'Kashi Culture Pathway' was released at the Culture Minister's Meeting in Varanasi on 26 August, 2023. As for the G20 SA (2020) and G20 Italy (2021), ICOMOS once again attended the Culture Working Group and Ministerial meetings, providing technical contributions on issues identified within the G20 India agenda.

The United States National Committee of ICOMOS is horrified at the extent of human suffering and the destruction of heritage resulting from the fires in Maui. Our hearts go out to the many people who have lost family and friends in reported numbers that continue to increase.
The heritage value of one town largely destroyed by the fire, Lahaina, is enormous. It was the Capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii for decades and contains many sites sacred to Native Hawaiians.

In response to the urgent needs the Ukrainian cultural sector is experiencing, and in the framework of UNESCO's emergency assistance programme for Ukraine, the multisectoral programme ‘Support for Ukraine in culture and education through UNESCO’ funded by the Japan-Fund-in Trust was launched in February 2023, with a culture-specific component, namely ‘Emergency response for World Heritage and cultural property: damage assessment and protection'.

ICOMOS and the Global Heritage Fund (GHF) recently completed Phase 1 of their project which identifies key linkages and data gaps in the contribution of heritage to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"Providing Guidance on Evidence for Heritage and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals" is conducted by the 2 organisations under the terms of their Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2021.

ICOMOS, as Advisory Body to the World Heritage Committee, joins the Director General of UNESCO in expressing its strongest condemnation at recent repeated attacks on World Heritage areas in Ukraine – Lviv and Odesa – destroying lives and damaging significant cultural sites.

On 29 June, the 4th Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO-Designated Sites and Sustainable Development took place in China. Organised by the Huangshan Municipal Government and the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO, the two-day event brought together over 200 participants, including decision-makers, researchers and managers from 10 international organisations and 20 countries.