Twenty-six new sites inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List this year

The World Heritage Committee on Monday morning inscribed Lena Pillars Nature Park of the Russian Federation, the last site to be added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List during this year’s session. Chad, Congo, Palau and Palestine had World Heritage sites inscribed on the List for the first time.
Lena Pillars Nature Park is marked by spectacular rock pillars that reach a height of approximately 100 metres along the banks of the Lena River in the central part of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). They were produced by the region’s extreme continental climate with an annual temperature range of almost 100 degrees Centigrade (from -60°C in winter to +40°C in summer). The pillars form rocky buttresses isolated from each other by deep and steep gullies developed by frost shattering directed along intervening joints. Penetration of water from the surface has facilitated cryogenic processes (freeze-thaw action), which have widened gullies between pillars leading to their isolation. Fluvial processes are also critical to the pillars. The site also contains a wealth of Cambrian fossil remains of numerous species, some of them unique.
A total of five natural World Heritage Sites were inscribed during the present session of the World Heritage Committee:

• Lakes of Ounianga (Chad);
• Sangha Trinational (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo,);
• Chengjiang Fossil Site (China);
• Western Ghats (India);
• Lena Pillars Nature Park (Russian Federation).

Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (Palau) was inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site.
A total of 20 cultural sites were inscribed during the session:

• Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain); Major Mining Sites of Wallonia (Belgium);
• Rio de Janeiro, Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea (Brazil);
• The Landscape of Grand-Pré (Canada);
• Site of Xanadu (China);
• Historic Town Grand-Bassam (Côte d’Ivoire);
• Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin (France);
• Margravial Opera House Bayreuth (Germany);
• Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy (Indonesia);
• Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan (Islamic Republic of Iran),
• Gonbad-e Qābus (Islamic Republic of Iran);
• Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel : The Nahal Me’arot/Wadi el-Mughara Caves (Israel);
• Archaelogical Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (Malaysia);
• Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage (Morocco);
• Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine);
• Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications (Portugal);
• Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes (Senegal);
• Heritage of Mercury Almadén and Idrija (Slovenia/Spain);
• Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland (Sweden);
• Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük (Turkey).

Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine) was inscribed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger, as it was added to the List of World Heritage. Two of Mali’s World Heritage sites, Timbuktu and the Tomb of Askia, were also added to the List of World Heritage in Danger, as were Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City (UK) and the Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo (Panama).
Two conservation success stories were recognized by the World Heritage Committee allowing for them to be removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger: Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore (Pakistan) and the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (Philippines).

Western Ghats is now a UN World Heritage Site

India's 1600-km long Western Ghats mountain chain, which has forests older than the Himalaya mountains, has been added to list of world heritage sites by the United Nations.
The Western Ghats mountain chain is recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity.

The chain's forests, which are older than the Himalaya mountains influence the Indian monsoon weather pattern.

The ghats, which start at the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra and runs through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala ending at Kanyakumari, was added to the World Heritage list by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

A historic opera house in Germany, a border town and its fortifications in Portugal, and 18 interconnected lakes in Chad are some other sites that have been added to the list. The Margravial Opera House Bayreuth in Germany, which was built in the 18th century, is considered a masterpiece of Baroque theatre architecture. It is the only entirely preserved example of its type where an audience of 500 can experience Baroque court opera culture and acoustics authentically, as its auditorium retains its original materials.

The border town of Elvas and its fortifications in Portugal, was also added to the list, as the site represents the largest bulwarked dry ditch system in the world. While Elvas contains remains dating back to the 10th century, its fortification began when Portugal regained independence in 1640.

The World Heritage Committee meets once a year, and is responsible for the implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which defines the kind of natural or cultural sites which can be considered for inscription on the World Heritage List.

World Heritage Committee to consider inscription of 36 sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List at forthcoming session (St Petersburg 22 June – 6 July)

The World Heritage Committee will consider the inscription of 36 sites on the World Heritage List during its next meeting from 24 June to 6 July, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

The forthcoming 36 ^th session of the Committee , an independent body of 21 States Parties to the 1972 World Heritage Convention , will be chaired by. Eleonora Mitrofanova, Ambassador Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation to UNESCO. For the first time in its 40-year history, members of the public and the media will be able to follow the debates of the Committee through live streaming on the internet.

Some of the working documents of the Committee are already available to the public online in English and French and the rest will be made available early next month.

Five natural sites are to be considered for inscription:

Chad, Lakes of Ounianga;

China, Chengjian Fossil Site;

Congo, Cameroon and Central African Republic, Sangha Trinational;

India, Western Ghats;

Russian Federation, Lena Pillars Nature Park.