Yana Marull Yahoo News 30 Jul 10;
BRASILIA (AFP) – Florida's Everglades and Madagascar's tropical forest were added Friday to a list of imperiled world heritage sites by UNESCO officials who also registered lesser threats to Peru's Machu Picchu ruins and the Galapagos Islands.
The decision by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, meeting in Brazil's capital, brought to 35 the number of unique cultural or environmental sites considered to be in danger.
Other spots included on the list were Georgia's Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery, and the Buganda Kingdom Tombs in Uganda.
The committee determined that the Everglades National Park, a mangrove swamp sanctuary for birds and reptiles in southeast United States, "because of serious and continuing degradation of its aquatic ecosystem."
Water inflows have been greatly reduced and pollution levels have increased to a point that marine life is dying off, it said.
It was the second time the Everglades has been inscribed on the list. The first time was between 1993 and 2007 because of hurricane damage, deviation of its water supply for encroaching urban centers, and pollution from agricultural flow-off.
Madagascar's Rainforests of Atsinanana were put on the list due to excessive illegal logging and poaching of lemurs on the island following political upheaval sparked by a March 2009 coup.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the body that advises UNESCO on world heritage sites, said the forests were home to many unique species who were under threat.
On Thursday, the committee announced it was putting the cathedral and monastery in Georgia on the list because of unauthorized reconstruction work.
The Ugandan royal tombs were added because of a devastating fire this year.
While Peru's Machu Picchu was not added to the list of sites in danger, UNESCO noted recommendations that the 15th century Incan ruins be put under close watch because of severe flooding this year.
The Galapagos Islands, located off Ecuador's coast, were removed from the list under a Brazilian demand meant to reflect progress Quito had made to preserve the archipelago, made famous by Charles Darwin's 1835 study that supported his theory of evolution.
But the IUCN criticized the move, calling it "premature."
"Threats from tourism, invasive species and overfishing are still factors and the situation in the Galapagos remains critical," said Tim Badman, who heads the IUCN's World Heritage Program.
Among the notable sites maintained on the list is Jerusalem, which was included in 1982 because of excavations threatening some of its 220 historic monuments.
Sri Lankan, Hawaiian sites make world heritage list
Yahoo News 31 Jul 10;
BRASILIA (AFP) – A region of mountainous forests in Sri Lanka and an isolated archipelago off Hawaii have been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list, officials of the UN cultural and scientific body said Saturday.
The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization decided to add the two sites on Friday as it held a 10-day meeting to revise the list in Brasilia.
The additions brought to 892 the number of environmentally or culturally unique sites considered important to our planet and civilizations.
Sri Lanka's highland region, situated in the south central part of the island, was added because of its "extraordinary range of flora and fauna," which includes endangered species such as the langur and loris primates and the Sri Lankan leopard, a UNESCO statement said.
The United States' Papahanaumokuakea archipelago, located 250 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of the main group of Hawaiian islands, was included because of its "deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture... as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death."
During its meeting in the Brazilian capital, which wraps up Tuesday, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee also went over its list of endangered sites.
On Friday, it added Florida's Everglades and Madagascar's tropical forest to that roll, which is meant to ring alarm bells and encourage protective measures.
Earlier, it removed the Galapagos Islands from the same list, despite protests from its consulting body, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which said declaring the islands out of danger was "premature."
Sri Lanka, Hawaii sites get world heritage status
Reuters 31 Jul 10;
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central highlands and a protected marine area in Hawaii, the only habitats of several endangered plant and animal species, have been added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites, the U.N. body said on Saturday.
Sri Lanka's central highlands were deemed of prime importance because of the pristine forests that are home to the Sri Lanka leopard and other rare animal and plant life.
The Hawaiian marine site, known as Papahanaumokuakea, is the habitat of the endangered Hawaiian Monk seal and rare birds. The site encompasses about 140,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean. Its isolated reef ecosystems are dominated by top predators like sharks.
"This feature has been lost from most other island environments due to human activity," said Tim Badman, a top adviser at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Badman's group is the advisory body to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and makes recommendations to the committee based on its field research at the sites.
The UNESCO committee is meeting in Brazil's capital, Brasilia. On Friday it declared the Florida Everglades an endangered World Heritage site due to pollution and water shortages.
(Reporting by Peter Murphy, Editing by Stacey Joyce)
