The Vegaøyan World Heritage Foundation was founded in 2005 by the municipality of Vega and has a board of directors with representatives from the municipality of Vega, the Norwegian Parliament, Nordland County Council and the Helgeland Council.

The board has observers from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage , the Norwegian Environment Agency, the State Administrator of Nordland, Vega Protected Area Board and the Norwegian Nature Conservation Agency. See other organization and anchoring under the heading Anchoring.

The purpose of the foundation is to contribute to the preservation of the area's values and is responsible for reporting to UNESCO on management, dissemination, research and local efforts to preserve and develop the World Heritage Site. The foundation will also coordinate world heritage work locally and, through its subsidiary Vega Verdensarvsenter AS, has operational responsibility for the content and activities of the world heritage center, which will communicate the world heritage and at the same time be a meeting place for the local community.

The center was one of the first three authorized World Heritage Centers in Norway and was opened in 2019.

The Vegaøyan World Heritage Foundation has a budget of approximately 5.8 million kroner for 2023, with the majority of the funds going to securing the eider tradition, cultural landscape measures, information/dissemination/education and restoration in Bremstein and on Gangarøy. See the Foundation's annual reports for more information about the work in progress.

Through the Directorate for Cultural Heritage /Nordland County Council is given grants for World Heritage work in the areas of dissemination, restoration and other value creation work related to World Heritage.

Best practice

The World Heritage Sites shall be beacons for best practices in management and communication. This is also the goal of the Foundation's work. The Action Plan for the Cultural Landscape and the Management Plan for Vegaøyan shall guide the Foundation's prioritization of measures.

The community section of the municipal plan for Vega municipality 2025-2036 was adopted on December 19, 2024, and the area section of the municipal plan was adopted on June 17, 2010. It contains goals and strategies for community development and the development of the municipal organization.

The UNESCO World Heritage List and the Vegaøyan World Heritage Site are a consistent perspective in the social part of the new municipal plan. The Vega community's place on the list is both an obligation and an opportunity to build communities and create good lives. The World Heritage Site is part of the municipality's identity, influences many planning issues and is a theme in several of the chapters. Chapter 2 of the plan contains Vega municipality's strategy for utilizing the World Heritage Site's opportunities for the benefit of the local community, as well as handling the limitations in a good way. An overall assessment of the condition of the World Heritage Sites and their management is also included. Other details are in the new management plan, which is part of the social part of the municipal plan. It contains a detailed status of the Vegaøyan World Heritage Site, an assessment of the management system, as well as visions, interim goals, strategies and measures for future development. The management plan has the same connection to Vega municipality's action plan/economic plan (HØP) as other chapters in the social part.

Vega Municipality has, in accordance with the UNESCO tool Enhancing Our Heritage Toolkit 2.0 (EOH 2.0), assessed the overall management of the Vegaøyan World Heritage Site. The assessment includes developments since inscription in 2004, climate vulnerability and expected future trends. Vega Municipality's final assessment of the management is that the resources are insufficient to meet either the State Party's ambitions for World Heritage or the sustainable development of the local community and the World Heritage Site (2024).

Read more: https://www.vega.kommune.no/_f/p1/i99735f64-0287-4de0-9b4e-8055a9ae6364/samfunnsdel-25112024.pdf

Investigation of world heritage values

The Foundation will also follow up on UNESCO's requests to Norway in the inscription document The Vega Archipelago (2004) and had a coordinating role when it was reported to UNESCO in 2013. In 2016, the Foundation therefore took the initiative to investigate the boundary between conservation and sustainable development with regard to aquaculture in the World Heritage area. The first study, under the auspices of Sweco, was completed in August 2016. It advised against aquaculture in the World Heritage area, primarily based on visual considerations.
Subsequently, there have been studies on, among other things, bird life and in 2021 – 2022, the company Instead Heritage worked on behalf of Vega Municipality with an additional study for the Helgeland Coastal Plan. They carried out a complete impact assessment for world heritage (KUVA). It was ready in August/September 2022 and advised against aquaculture in the world heritage area based on the area's vulnerability and visual character. The conclusions of the study led to the Directorate for Cultural Heritage and the State Administrator of Nordland maintained their objections to the Helgeland Coastal Plan, Vega planning area. In a letter dated 14 May 2024, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development rejected the applications for aquaculture at Rørskjæran and Hysvær in Vegaøyan World Heritage Site. Instead of farming, Vega municipality received 10 million kroner spread over two years to contribute to sustainable business development in the municipality.

Organization

The Foundation and Vega Protected Area Board has a joint advisory committee with around 21 representatives from local landowners, teams, associations and organizations locally and regionally.

See also the Foundation's statutes.