This paper addresses the issue of the relationship between local communities and the listing of a site on the UNESCO World Heritage List and the problems that arise from the establishment of a set of laws related to the use of these sites and the protection of their immediate surroundings. Through a specific case study, that of the village of Hadchit bordering the Qadisha Valley, we will go through the effects generated by such a classification, the problems that ensued with the local population as well as the solutions that were proposed to remedy the situation. In fact, the World Heritage listing of the entire area as well as the buffer zone, despite the positive effects that it could have had, was perceived negatively by the inhabitants. One of the main reasons leading to this dissatisfactory result was the fact that these buffer zones affected, in certain places, the heart of the villages bordering the valley, hence leading to restrictive measures such as the reduction of construction coefficients in the included areas. The lack of information or communication and the delay in the implementation of development projects taking advantage of the listing were factors which aggravated the situation, with residents feeling prohibited from developing their land without compensation. It is only recently that conservation projects funded by UNESCO as well as international organizations, accompanied by awareness and capacity building sessions for locals, have the situation started to improve. Hence, this paper will go through this problematic, to present the issues of the listing, the reaction of the inhabitants over the last 30 years as well as to present the conservation projects currently in progress and supervised by the author of this paper, the residents involving in these projects and their effect in reversing the local’s perception of the valley listing.