Alliance Cultural Protection Agency

The Alliance Cultural Protection Agency is a specialized organisation of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sport (MCAS). Its purpose is to list specific places (such as a forest, mountain, lake, island, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that is listed as of special cultural or physical significance.

The programme catalogues, names and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. As of 2013, three sites are listed, all of them cultural. ACPA references each heritage site with an identification code. While each heritage site remains part of the legal territory of the state wherein the site is located, ACPA considers it in the interest of the international community to preserve each site.

Selection criteria
ACPA’s criteria for the assessment of Outstanding Universal Value

(i)	represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;

(ii) exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

(iii)	 bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

(iv) be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

(v)	 be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

(vi) be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.

(vii) contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

(viii)	 be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

(ix) be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

(x) contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation

Identification code
The identification code is unique for every site which is accepted into the Alliance Cultural Protection Agency (ACPA). The system used shows sites by the a number between 0001 and 1000. It is then followed by the continental code.There is a two letter sequence for every continental region in the Alliance of Independent Nations. They are as follows; Americas (AM), Europe (EU), Africa (AF), Asia (AS), Atlantic (AT), Oceania (OC) The code also includes categorical information regard the type of site. The type of site is expressed by either C, N or CN representing cultural, natural or mixed, respectively.