UNESCO names new world heritage sites
MADRID — 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.
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