Mumbai's Oval Precinct to be proposed as a World Heritage Site

1 August 2011 -

Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra, has approved a motion to propose the Oval Precinct of Mumbai as a cultural World Heritage Site.
The idea to nominate the Oval Precinct originated with the Urban Design Research Institute, an organization based in Mumbai dedicated to architectural and urban improvements.
The Oval Precinct in South Mumbai is chiefly noted for the juxtaposition of different architectural styles from two different centuries - Victorian Gothic from the late 19th century, and Art Deco from the early 20th.
The Architectural Survey of India is working on a presentation and dossier to present to UNESCO for the Oval Precinct's World Heritage proposal.

For the original article on dailybhaskar.com, click here.

26 new sites inscribed to World Heritage list

24-28 June 2011 -

The World Heritage Committee has inscribed a total of 26 new sites to the World Heritage list, including an extension of one existing World Heritage Site, this week at their 35th annual session, held in Paris.
The newly inscribed sites include locales of exceptional natural or cultural value in Kenya, Australia, China, Japan, Senegal, Barbados, Germany, Italy, France, Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Ethiopia, Viet Nam, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Mongolia, and Nicaragua. Germany's Beech Forests were inscribed by inclusion with Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, in Slovakia and Ukraine, included on the World Heritage Site list in 2007. One of the sites, Pile Dwellings around the Alps, encompasses 111 small sites in Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Germany, and Slovenia. Bridgetown and its Garrison is Barbados's first World Heritage Site.
This year's session brings the total number of World Heritage Sites to 936. Twenty of the new World Heritage Sites are listed as cultural, five natural (including Germany's Beech Forests), and one, Wadi Rum Protected Area in Jordan, mixed.
There will be no more sites inscribed to the list this year. The 35th World Heritage Committee session will end tomorrow.

See press releases on the session from UNESCOPRESS here.

35th Committee inscribes four new World Heritage Sites

24 June 2011 -

The World Heritage Committee inscribed four new World Heritage Sites today: Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya; Nigaloo Coast, Australia; Ogasawara Islands, Japan; and West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, China.
The Committee's 35th annual session began June 19, in Paris, France. Delegations from 21 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will be reviewing the conservation statuses of 169 existing World Heritage Sites and considering 33 proposals for new World Heritage Sites until the session ends on June 29.

See the latest press releases from UNESCOPRESS here.