Our report for the year 2001-2002, following the successful ICOMOS World Report 2000 on Monuments and Sites in Danger, once again includes contributions from individual colleagues and various national and international committees of ICOMOS, as well as information and updates collected by our Taskforce. We would also like to thank those experts who participated in three Heritage at Risk workshops this year. These workshops provided a wide range of additional information and included discussions that will valuably inform our ongoing work in this area: first, the meeting of colleagues from South African countries at the University of Pretoria, organised by Andrew Hall, President of the Advisory Committee (30-31 May 2001); second, the meeting of colleagues from Eastern Europe in Warsaw (28-30 September 2001), planned by Marek Konopka, General Secretary of the Polish National Committee, and finally the Heritage at Risk conference held in connection with the meeting of the Advisory Committee in Dubrovnik (16-17 October 2001). We commend the input from all these ICOMOS colleagues and committees and also note, in line with ICOMOS policy, that the information provided for this publication reflects the independent view of each committee.

The ICOMOS World Report 2001-2002 includes new reports from more than 60 countries, and is a continuation of last year’s edition. The report, together with updates, can also be found on the Internet (www.international.icomos.org/risk). This year our experienced editorial team had very committed support from another Australian colleague, Jane Harrington, who edited most of the texts and contributed in a substantial way to the final production process. John Ziesemer once again dedicated considerable energy and time to ensure the production of a successful publication, as did Gaia Jungeblodt, Director of the International Secretariat in Paris. We are particularly grateful to ICOMOS Germany for again providing the financial and organisational framework for the 2001-2002 report, made possible through the generous support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Media, as well as the support of the Messerschmitt Foundation. We also need to thank Hannelore Puttinger from the ICOMOS secretariat in Munich, as well as the staff of the International Secretariat in Paris, particularly Jose Garcia for his work with the web site. Once again we extend our thanks to the K.G. Saur publishing company, particularly Manfred Link, for facilitating the printing of this publication, which had to be compiled under great pressure of time.

Finally the members of the Heritage at Risk taskforce would like to express their gratitude to all colleagues and friends for helping us to try to save our common cultural heritage.

Sheridan Burke, Dinu Bumbaru, Michael Petzet