 "The nomination of the Moon was made by the International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) – a non-governmental group dedicated to the conservation of the world's monuments and sites. Image courtesy: Pixabay/Representational")
The Moon is now under threat.
It may sound like the plot of a Hollywood movie, but it’s not.
The Moon has been added to the list of heritage sites under threat in 2025.
But what do we know? Why is this happening?
Let’s take a closer look:
What do we know?
According to Space.com, the Moon was added to the list of heritage places under threat by the World Monuments Fund (WMF).
The WMF calls itself the “leading independent organisation devoted to safeguarding the world’s most treasured places.”
The World Monuments Fund added 25 new sites in 29 countries across five continents to their 2025 World Monuments Watch.
Among the other sites that are listed are Antakya in Türkiye, the Swahili Coast of Africa, the Chapel of the Sorbonne in France, the Buddhist grottoes of Maijishan and Yungang in China and the lighthouses of Maine in the US.
As per the Smithsonian, the non-profit every two years puts out a list of cultural heritage sites it deems endangered due to war and climate change.
The 2025 list saw more than 200 nominations undergo extreme vetting.
The nomination of the Moon was made by the International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) – a non-governmental group dedicated to the conservation of the world’s monuments and sites.
The final decision to add the Moon to the list of endangered heritage places was made by an independent panel of international heritage experts.
“The moon seems so far outside of our scope,” World Monuments Fund president and CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur told The New York Times. “But with humans venturing more and more into space, we think it is the right time to get ourselves organised.”
As per Newsweek, the WMF has given over $120 million to 350 sites on its watch list.
It has also raised another $300 million for sites due to the awareness generated by the watch list.
But why the Moon?
As per Space.com, the idea behind this is to manufacture international consensus to safeguard humanity’s legacy on the Moon.
Both humans and robots have explored the surface of the Moon and left several objects there – such as the astronauts’ footprints during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, the flag of the United States, the TV camera that broadcast man’s first steps on the Moon and a memorial disk left by astronauts.
The Tranquility Base alone, where astronauts first walked during Apollo 11, has over 100 artifacts.
Places like Tranquility Base represent “remarkable science and engineering milestones rooted in millennia of astronomical study and remain a source of growing scientific knowledge,” the World Monuments Fund was quoted as saying by the Smithsonian.
“These landing sites also mark moments that stirred the collective imagination and inspired a sense of global wonder and shared accomplishment.”
The idea is to put in place safeguards to protect these precious objects and the sites where humanity has left its mark.
“For the first time, the moon is included on the Watch to reflect the urgent need to recognise and preserve the artifacts that testify to humanity’s first steps beyond Earth — a defining moment in our shared history,” Montlaur told Space.com.
Montlaur said there are hundreds of other articles which reflected humanity’s legacy.
As per Smithsonian, the move came on the same day that a SpaceX rocket launched from Nasa ’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to put two private robotic landers on the Moon.
It also noted that Nasa through its Artemis programme wants to send people back to the Moon by 2025 – and even construct a permanent base there.
The outlet also pointed to the increasing amount of “space junk” near the Moon as well as the nascent space tourism market.
It quoted experts as saying all this could conceivably destroy historic sites on the Moon.
The World Monument Fund says over 90 sites on the Moon’s surface that showcase some of humankind’s “most extraordinary feats of courage and ingenuity” could be in danger.
“Exploitative visitation, souveniring, and looting by future missions and private lunar exploration could eventually compromise this truly unique cultural heritage, removing artifacts and forever erasing iconic prints and tracks from the Moon’s surface,” the WMF has warned.
“Yet, they face mounting risks amidst accelerating lunar activities, undertaken without adequate preservation protocols,” de Montlaur said. “The inclusion of the moon underscores the universal need for proactive and cooperative strategies to protect heritage — whether on Earth or beyond — that reflect and safeguard our collective narrative.”
With inputs from agencies