The UNESCO World Heritage title has become a powerful global brand. It influences people’s decisions of where to travel and conveys prestige and national pride. CHRISTOPH BRUMANN and his research group investigated how this title is being awarded and what its consequences are on the ground at the chosen sites. Brumann explains in this video that using a two-fold anthropological approach, the researchers found that, since 2010, national interests have become the guideline for the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decisions, often brushing aside expert advice. On the local level, they discovered that communities often had little influence on the management of the sites and that these were rather maintained in the line of national interests. These findings suggest an unexpected assertion of national interests in contrast to global institutions’ advice.