WHC To Consider Listing 31 New Sites on World Heritage List

Thirty one (31) new sites will be considered for inscription onto the World Heritage List during the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) to be opened this evening in Phnom Penh under the presidency of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.

Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Capital will be recorded in the history as a city where properties from different countries around the world are listed as World Heritage Sites, said Mr. Dim Sovannarom, Spokesperson for the 37th session of WHC.

Actually, there were 32 new sites to be examined for registration, but Vietnam had to withdraw its request for inscription for its Cat Tien National Park as it failed to meet the WHC’s requirement, he added.

Those 31 new sites were divided into natural properties, mixed natural and cultural properties, and cultural properties, UNESCO’s website pointed out.

The natural properties include Xinjiang Tianshan (China); Great Himalayan National Park (India); Mount Etna (Italy); Mount Kenya-Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (an extension of “Mount Kenya National Park/Natural Forest, Kenya); El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve (Mexico); Namib Sand Sea (Namibia); Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary (Philippines); and Tajik National Park (Mountains of the Pamirs) (Tajikistan), it said.

The mixed natural and cultural properties are Pimachiowin Aki (Canada); Archipel des Bijagós – Motom Moranghajogo (Guinea Bissau); Sehlabathebe National Park (Lesotho); and an extension of “uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park (South Africa), it added.

According to the UNESCO’s website, the cultural properties include Red Bay Basque Whaling Station (Canada); Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces (China); Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea); Levuka Historical Port Town (Fiji); Water features and Hercules within the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe (Germany); Hill Forts of Rajasthan (India); Golestan Palace (Islamic Republic of Iran); Cultural Landscape of Maymand (Islamic Republic of Iran); Medici Villas and Gardens (Italy); Fujisan (Japan); Town and Castle of Vianden (Luxembourg); Isandra Zoma (Madagascar); Agadez (Historic Centre of Agadez), (Niger); Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (extension of “Wieliczka Salt Mine”, Poland), Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine (Poland / Ukraine); University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia (Portugal); Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (Qatar); Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex (Russian Federation); Historic city of Alanya (Turkey); Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora (5th century BC – 14th century AD, Ukraine).

Five of the above sites had already been considered for inscription in the past – Hill Forts of Rajasthan (India); Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (Qatar); Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea); Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex (Russian Federation); and Tajik National Park (Tajikistan), it said.

Around 1,300 delegates from more than 120 member states to the 1972 UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage will attend this universal event, which will take place until June 27.

Up to 2012, the World Heritage List includes 962 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the WHC considers as having outstanding universal value.

Sourced: AKP