BIRMINGHAM, Alabama --Birmingham Mayor William Bell this afternoon is expected to announce a designation for the city's key civil rights sites and ongoing efforts to gain "World Heritage" status.

Birmingham's civil rights sites have been named a UNESCO "World Memory Site." Bell held a news conference this afternoon at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to make announce the city's designation from UNESCO, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture.

"The site we have here has been recognized by the national park service," Bell said this afternoon. "With the world heritage designation, it gives us a better tool to market Birmingham across the globe."

The new designation is part of the city's larger application for World Heritage designation by UNESCO. The organization is the educational agency of the United Nations and selects the World Heritage sites of natural and cultural significance. There are currently 981 locations on the list worldwide.

Bell today was be joined by officials with the Alabama State Department of Tourism because the designation will also include Alabama's Civil Rights Trail.

A team of experts are being assembled to present the most cohesive and historic group under the one admission. The city has a goal to present its application the full World Heritage Committee in 2016, according to officials.

"We are working to establish Birmingham as an international destination for human rights. Today's designation is another step to that goal," Bell said in a statement this afternoon. "The peaceful protest model first perfected in Birmingham during the civil rights movement has been duplicated a cited around the world. We continue to embrace our past to build our future."

Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund.

Bell had proposed $250,000 in the upcoming 2015 budget to fund designation efforts. However, the line item was reduced to $138,000 in the City Council's proposed revisions.

"The World Heritage allocation represents the expansion of our world heritage site application for presentation to the Department of the Interior, research and development of a coalition of civil rights by recognized experts in the field of cultural and historic tourism and finally to design the final application and presentation piece," according to an email response from Bell's office told AL.com in a statement following an inquiry. "All of these activities are being done to put the city on the world stage and increase our tourism dollars from around the world."

Officials said the city has also partnered with UAB, Miles College, Birmingham-Southern and Samford University to develop curriculum focusing on the city's civil rights heritage to be offered beginning this fall.

"This sort of designation will bring in more visitors from around the world and that translates into cultural tourism and a significant economic impact," Bell said.