Yahoo News 26 Jun 09;
MADRID (AFP) – The sacred Buddhist mountain of Wutai in China and Italy's Dolomite Mountains were among five new sites named Friday to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The tidal flats and wetlands of the Wadden Sea in Germany and the Netherlands, Cape Verde's 15th century town of Cidade Velha and Burkina Faso's Loropeni ruins also became World Heritage Sites, UNESCO announced.
It also inscribed the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in the Philippines as an "extension" to the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, which joined the World Heritage List in 1993.
The announcements were made on the fifth day of a meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Seville, Spain.
The committee, which is meeting until June 30, is deciding which of 27 sites deserve to be added to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's heritage list of 881 sites that have "outstanding universal value."
UNESCO said Mount Wutai, a "sacred Buddhist mountain" in northern China that includes 53 monasteries, was named as a "cultural landscape."
It features "the Ming Dynasty Shuxiang Temple with a huge complex of 500 statues representing Buddhist stories woven into three dimensional pictures of mountains and water.
"Overall, the buildings on the site present a catalogue of the way Buddhist architecture developed and influenced palace building in China over more than one millennium."
The Dolomites in northern Italy comprise "a diversity of spectacular landscapes of international significance for geomorphology marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls," UNESCO said in a statement.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which makes recommendations to the UNESCO committee, said the mountains were chosen for "their outstanding natural beauty and the geological significance of their limestone formations."
UNESCO said the Wadden Sea "is one of the last remaining natural, large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function largely undisturbed.
"It is home to numerous plant and animal species, including marine mammals such as the harbour seal, grey seal and harbour porpoise."
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel welcomed the decision as "a great day for the protection of nature in Germany", and said the government now had an "obligation to make protection of the site a priority."
A Dutch environmental organisation, Bund, described it as "a great responsibility" for both countries, which must support "tourism that is sustainable and respectful of nature."
UNESCO said Cidade Velha "bears testimony to the history of Europe's colonial presence in Africa and to the history of slavery.
"The town of Ribeira Grande, renamed Cidade Velha in the late 18th century, was the first European colonial outpost in the tropics. Located in the south of the island of Santiago, the town features some of the original street layout, impressive remains including two churches, a royal fortress and Pillory Square with its ornate 16th century marble pillar."
UNESCO said the extension of the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park represents a "threefold increase in the size of the original property."
Josephine Langley, the IUCN's World Heritage Monitoring Officer, added that the park, "composed of two atolls and one reef, is home to a number of threatened and endangered species, such as the iconic Napoleon wrasse."
UNESCO announced Thursday it had removed Dresden's Elbe Valley from its World Heritage List because the eastern German city had gone ahead with the building of a road bridge "in the heart of the cultural landscape."
It is only the second site ever to have been removed from the list, after Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was dropped in 2007.
UNESCO names new world heritage sites
Daniel Woolls, Google news 26 Jun 09;
MADRID (AP) — Italy's Dolomite mountains and the Wadden Sea along the coasts of Germany and the Netherlands were among several sites added Friday to UNESCO's world heritage list.
The U.N. agency's World Heritage Committee announced the additions, most of them nature-related, at a meeting in Seville, Spain. Heritage sites, which are deemed as having outstanding universal value, can also be cultural, such as old quarters of cities or monuments.
The Wadden Sea coastline is a wetlands area rich in wildlife. UNESCO described it as one of the world's last, large-scale intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function undisturbed.
"The number of fish, shellfish and birds the system supports is simply staggering," said Pedro Rosabal of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which advises UNESCO on heritage nature sites.
UNESCO also praised the Dolomites in Italy's northern Alps as "one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere."
The agency added northern China's Mount Wutai, a sacred Buddhist site known for its five flat peaks and a landscape with 53 monasteries.
Cape Verde's city of Cidade Velha, the first European colonial outpost in the tropics, was also listed Friday. UNESCO said the city bears testimony to the history of slavery.
The agency extended an existing heritage site in the Philippines called Tubbataha Reef Marine Park by adding adjacent countryside, increasing its size threefold.
On Thursday, UNESCO dropped Germany's Elbe River valley at Dresden from the heritage list because of a bridge under construction across the river, saying this spoils the landscape.
UNESCO was expected to name more sites at the Seville meeting, which continues through June 30. Sites currently on the list range from the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia to the Versailles palace in France.
Prior to Friday, the list featured 878 properties deemed as being so precious as to belong to humanity in general, not just the country where they are located.
Governments that nominate sites must present a plan for their upkeep. The heritage committee regularly then inspects listed sites, although it provides no funding except in case of emergencies like natural disasters.
Two new natural wonders on World Heritage List
IUCN 26 Jun 09;
The Wadden Sea, on the coast of Germany and the Netherlands, and the Dolomites mountains in Northern Italy have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, following IUCN’s recommendations.
The Tubbataha Reefs National Park, an existing World Heritage Site in the Philippines, has been significantly extended.
After over a year of rigorous evaluations of the this year'sa nominations, IUCN, which is the independent advisory body on nature to UNESCO, presented the findings of its expert missions to the World Heritage Committee, currently meeting in Seville, Spain. With the new additions, the number of natural and mixed sites is now 201.
The Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of inter-tidal sand and mud flats in the world. It is one of the most important areas for migratory birds, with up to 6.1 million birds present at any one time more than 400,000 breeding pairs and an average of 10-12 million birds which pass through every year.
“Coastal wetlands are not always the richest sites in terms of the fauna found there, but that is not the case for the Wadden Sea,” says Pedro Rosabal, of IUCN’s Protected Areas Programme. “The number of fish, shellfish and birds the system supports is simply staggering. Biodiversity on a worldwide scale is reliant on this special ecosystem.”
The Dolomites in Italy have been inscribed on the World Heritage List due to their outstanding natural beauty and the geological significance of their limestone formations. Some of the rock cliff rise more than 1500 meters and are among the highest vertical limestone walls in the world. The fossil record of the Dolomites provides an insight into the recovery of marine life after near extinction more than 200 million years ago.
“This highly distinctive mountain range is exceptionally beautiful,” says Tim Badman, IUCN’s Special Advisor on World Heritage. “Spectacular pinnacles, spires and towers of limestone rise abruptly from gentle foothills. They are widely recognized as one of the most attractive mountain landscapes in the world.”
The Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in the Philippines, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993, has been significantly extended following IUCN’s recommendation. The National Park is home to pristine reefs with a high diversity of marine life, including whales, dolphins, sharks and turtles. The extended World Heritage site is three times bigger than the original, increasing from 33,000 to 97,000 hectares. Its reefs harbour more than 350 species of coral and almost 500 species of fish.
“Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, composed of two atolls and one reef, is home to a number of threatened and endangered species, such as the iconic Napoleon wrasse” says Josephine Langley, IUCN’s World Heritage Monitoring Officer. “It’s in a unique position in the middle of the Sulu Sea and is the perfect site to study the response of a natural reef system to the impacts of climate change.”
For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
* Borjana Pervan, IUCN Media Relations Officer, m +41 79 ..., e borjana.pervan@iucn.org
* Sarah Horsley, IUCN Media Relations Officer, m +41 79 ..., e sarah.horsley@iucn.org
For high resolution images, please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iucnweb/sets/72157619639272706/
Photos, audio/video material and fact sheets are available at www.iucn.org/worldheritage
