The Guardian - Moon added to list of threatened cultural sites for first time

Potential looting and commercial trips pose risk to artefacts left by lunar landings, says World Monuments Fund

Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent
Thu 16 Jan 2025 07.00 EST



The moon has been placed on a list of threatened heritage sites, owing to fears of potential looting and destruction caused by planned commercial trips.

The watchlist of the World Monuments Fund (WMF) usually includes vulnerable cultural sites on Earth. This year’s selection – the first since 2022 – includes Qhapaq Ñan, a pre-Hispanic Andean road system. Antakya in Turkey and the Noto peninsula in Japan, which were damaged by earthquakes, also made the list.

Bénédicte de Montlaur, the president and chief executive of WMF, said the moon was included among the 25 sites because of “mounting risks amidst accelerating lunar activities”, which were, in the WMF’s opinion, “undertaken without adequate preservation protocols”.

SpaceX launched two lunar landers on Wednesday to conduct research for future missions. Only five countries – the US, China, India, Japan and the former Soviet Union – have successfully landed vehicles on the moon since the 1960s.

Private trips to the lunar surface are expected after Nasa’s Artemis III mission, scheduled for mid-2027, makes the first crewed touchdown since the early 1970s. These visits and other government-funded missions are the main cause for concern for the WMF. There is particular anxiety about tourists disturbing sites such as the footprints left by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

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