The World Heritage Site Program was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1972 to identify and honor cultural, natural, or mixed sites of worldwide importance. Participating countries nominate a site to the UNESCO World Heritage Center, and each year the World Heritage Committee decides which nominated sites will be inscribed on the World Heritage List. The United States submitted the San Antonio Missions, the five Spanish Colonial missions including Rancho de las Cabras south of the city, for consideration in 2014. The nomination culminated nine years of work led by the San Antonio Conservation Society, Los Compadres de San Antonio Missions, National Park Service, City of San Antonio, San Antonio River Authority, Bexar County, The National Parks Conservation Association, Archdiocese of San Antonio, and the Texas General Land Office. Hundreds of thousands of hours and dollars were invested in this community-wide effort. All of these sites, situated in the San Antonio River basin and related by geography and function, were recognized by the World Heritage Committee as being of outstanding universal value as examples of the interweaving of the cultures of Spanish, Coahuiltecan, and other indigenous peoples, illustrated by a variety of tangible elements. When the San Antonio Missions were approved and inscribed as a World Heritage Site in July 2015, the site became the first in Texas, joining 22 other sites in the United States and more than 1000 worldwide.