China wants mountain lakes on World Heritage List

October 3rd, 2009 ABU DHABI - Unesco's Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage has identified 12 such items in eight countries in need of urgent safeguarding, WAM news agency reported Saturday. The list includes three items from China.

September 30th, 2009 Tango on UNESCO world heritage listDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tango was declared part of the world's cultural heritage by the United Nations on Wednesday and granted the international seal of approval Argentina and Uruguay have long sought for the dramatic dance and its sensual moves. The 24 members of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee of Intangible Heritage granted the tango dance and its music protected cultural status at its meeting in Abu Dhabi.

September 23rd, 2009 ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital will host the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Sep 28-Oct 2, WAM news agency reported Wednesday. Official delegations from 112 countries, which have signed the Agreement on Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and over 50 representatives from regional organisations and non governmental organisations will take part in the event.

September 20th, 2009 ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is taking steps to promote and conserve the country's intangible cultural heritage, WAM news agency reported Sunday. On Saturday, the Intangible Heritage Department at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) published the first issue of a new magazine entitled "Intangible Heritage" on the Internet.

September 5th, 2009 ABU DHABI - The fourth meeting of Unesco's Intergovernmental Committee of Intangible Heritage will be held Sep 28-Oct 2 in this United Arab Emirates capital. Abu Dhabi will receive around 400 official delegations from 114 countries that have signed Unesco's Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage, WAM news agency reported Saturday.

July 16th, 2009 SHIMLA - The Great Himalayan National Park may get global recognition, with Unesco's world heritage committee placing it in the latest shortlist of world heritage sites. With magnificent glaciers, lofty mountains and gurgling streams, the national park in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu valley is one of the richest biodiversity sites in the western Himalayas.

July 6th, 2009 UNESCO adds Dolomites to world heritage listMADRID — Italy's Dolomite mountains were among 13 new sites added to UNESCO's world heritage list. Other new natural sites added to the list included the Wadden Sea wetlands, an area rich in wildlife in Germany and the Netherlands; and northern China's Mount Wutai, a sacred Buddhist site known for its five flat peaks and a landscape with 53 monasteries.

June 30th, 2009 Great Lakes wolves returning to endangered listTRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — More than 4,000 gray wolves in the upper Great Lakes region are going back on the federal endangered species list — at least temporarily.

June 26th, 2009 UNESCO names new world heritage sitesMADRID — 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.

June 26th, 2009 UNESCO names 2 new world heritage sitesMADRID — UNESCO has added Italy's Dolomite mountains and the Wadden Sea along the coasts of Germany and the Netherlands to its list of World Heritage Sites. The U.N. agency announced the decision at a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in Seville in southern Spain.

June 22nd, 2009 UNESCO panel considers new World Heritage sitesMADRID — The Dolomite mountains in northern Italy and architectural works by Le Corbusier are among sites nominated to join UNESCO's World Heritage List at a meeting that began Monday in Spain. The World Heritage Committee will also consider taking the rare step of dropping a site, in Germany, because a construction project is encroaching upon it.

June 21st, 2009 SRINAGAR - The central government will lend all required assistance to Jammu and Kashmir to protect the state's green pastures, heritage mountains, forests, natural springs and streams, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said here Sunday. Accompanied by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Ramesh, who arrived here earlier in the day, visited the Dal, Nageen, Khushalsar, Anchar, Manasbal and Wullar lakes.

June 15th, 2009 Groups: US moved too fast on gray wolf de-listingTRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Environmental groups are suing the federal government over its decision to remove gray wolves in the upper Great Lakes region from the endangered species list.

June 4th, 2009 EPA appoints czar for Great Lakes clean upTRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A Chicago-based environmentalist has been appointed to oversee President Barack Obama's initiative to clean up the Great Lakes.

April 22nd, 2009 Deep blue lakes become Afghanistan's first parkKABUL — A cascading collection of deep-blue high-mountain lakes became Afghanistan's first provisional national park Wednesday, as the violence-plagued nation took a big first step toward protecting one of its finest natural treasures. Coinciding with Earth Day, celebrated worldwide every year on April 22, officials in the Central Asian country signed a decree to create Band-e-Amir National Park, encompassing six mountain-fed lakes held back by natural calcified dams.