Tuesday, July 08, 2003

World Heritage Protection Extended to Five Natural Sites 08 Jul 03 PARIS, FRANCE. Five new natural sites were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List by the UN body's World Heritage Committee meeting at its Paris headquarters last week. The newly protected natural sites were listed along with 19 new cultural sites, some of which are also valued for their natural features. The World Heritage List compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee now numbers 754 sites, including 149 natural, and 582 cultural and 23 mixed sites of outstanding universal value. Rich in ancient fossils, Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List. (Photos courtesy UNESCO) The new natural sites are - Australia's Purnululu National Park, Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas in China, Uvs Nuur Basin in both the Russian Federation and Mongolia, Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland, and Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam. The committee also extended one natural site that is already inscribed on the World Heritage List to cover a greater area, the Central Amazon Conservation Complex in Brazil. One natural and two cultural sites were determined by the committee to be in grave danger. On Friday the committee inscribed three sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger - the Walled City of Baku in Azerbaijan, Comoê National Park in Cóte d'Ivoire, and Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. The List of World Heritage in Danger today numbers 35 sites throughout the world. [Environment News Service] 7:12:17 PM  Google It!