The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage Convention) was adopted in Paris, France in November 1972 and came into force in December 1975. The Convention is a unique international instrument in that it seeks to protect both cultural and natural heritage. The Convention defines the kind of sites which can be considered for inscription of the World Heritage List (ancient monuments, museums, biodiversity and geological heritage all come within the scope of the Convention), and sets out the duties of States Parties in identifying potential sites and their role in protecting them. Although many World Heritage sites fall into either the 'cultural' or 'natural' categories, a particularly important aspect of the Convention is its ability to recognise landscapes that combine these values, and where the biological and physical aspects of landscape have evolved alongside human activity.