For the first time, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) has included the moon in its 2025 list of 25 at-risk cultural heritage sites. Also joining that list this year are Gaza, the Swahili Coast, and the Turkish city of Antakya.
The organization, known for protecting sites like Machu Picchu and temples in Cambodia, is drawing attention to more than 90 lunar locations, including Tranquility Base and artifacts of human achievement on the moon the Apollo 11 landing site, according to a report by the New York Times. As space exploration and tourism accelerate, the WMF warns that these sites could face harm without international agreements to safeguard them.
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“The moon seems so far outside of our scope,” Bénédicte de Montlaur, the WMF’s president and chief executive told the Times. “But with humans venturing more and more into space, we think it is the right time to get ourselves organized.”
Existing agreements, such as the nonbinding Artemis Accords, promote norms for preserving space heritage, but enforcement mechanisms remain elusive. The United States along with 51 other countries have signed on to the Artemis Accords, however abiding by norms has been unpopular in today’s global political climate, which could mean the accords are all but toothless. Meanwhile, a binding UN treaty on lunar protections has gained little traction among key nations.
Critics argue that the threat to lunar heritage may be overstated. Michelle Hanlon, an expert on space law, noted that most upcoming missions target areas far from historic sites. However, she cautioned that without regulations, tourist activities and defunct satellites could cause unintentional damage. Jonathan Bell of the WMF said that recreational visits to the moon are imminent, making proactive preservation efforts to save the moon quite the opposite of science fiction.
“It is not so far away that there is going to be recreational visits to the moon,” Jonathan Bell, vice president of the WMF’s programs said to the Times. “We see putting the moon on the watch list as a wonderful opportunity to advocate for the need and value of preservation.”
In a release, the WMF said that it had placed Gaza on its list—in an entry formally called Gaza’s Historic Urban Fabric—because of Israel’s war there. “The inclusion of Gaza’s historic urban fabric on the 2025 Watch acknowledges the widespread devastation in the region, both in terms of human lives and destruction of the mosques, markets, churches, and historic buildings central to Gaza’s culture,” the citation reads. “Gaza’s placement on the Watch emphasizes the critical need to prepare recovery efforts, using heritage to anchor collective memory and a shared sense of belonging.”
