22 July 2011 -

Jamaica's Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, is embracing a tourism plan for the island that offers several distinct, focused tourism packages, such as sports tourism and faith-based tourism. But toursim officials like Bartlett are being criticized for pushing this approach, as opposed to a more holistic marketing strategy.
Dr. Janice Lindsay, a world heritage scholar, said she thinks marketing the culture of Jamaica as a whole, rather than breaking down its tourist-attracting potential into specific areas of interest, would be a better approach. She says Jamaica should draw tourists' attention to the overall cultural heritage of the island. She argues that the fragmented approach to tourism is not only unnecessary - especially because Jamaican culture in general holds a great deal of appeal worldwide - but more expensive.

See the original article, on jamaicaobserver.com's news website, here.

U.S. to propose Poverty Point, Frank Lloyd Wright buildings for World Heritage nomination

14 July 2011 -

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the U.S. will propose Poverty Point and eleven buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as the next nominations to the World Heritage List.
The nominations will be submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee, the body that makes the final decisions on World Heritage nominations, in 2013. If approved, the sites will be inscribed to the World Heritage list in 2014.
Poverty Point is a prehistoric site in northeastern Louisiana comprising a network of earthwork constructions. Built between 3,100 and 3,700 years ago, it is among the largest permanent hunter-gatherer settlements in the world.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is widely considered one of the most influential architects of all time. Of the 400 completed buildings he designed, 11 from across the country have been selected as superb representations of Wright's vision of an "organic architecture", a notion that has had a profound impact on the craft.
The next step in nominating these two sites will be for the Department of the Interior to collaborate with a Federal Interagency Panel on World Heritage to finalize the decision. The first drafts of the nominations should be completed by next spring.

The information from this post was taken from a press release by the National Park Service's Office of Communications, posted on the InsideNPS website for NPS employees.

Shell to drill near new World Heritage natural site of Ningaloo

8 July 2011 -

The Australian government has approved Shell's proposal to perform exploratory drilling operations, primarily for gas, 30 miles from the Ningaloo marine park. The Ningaloo Coast was inscribed to the World Heritage list at the 35th World Heritage Committee session held last month in Paris.
Australian conservation groups say a mishap in drilling operations, such as a spill, would pose a tremendous threat to the reef systems within the park.
The site is home to many rare and endangered species of wildlife and is famous for its population of whale sharks, the world's largest species of fish.
The Australian government is not requesting any further environmental assessment from Shell.

See the original article from guardian.co.uk here.

Tanzania to mine uranium in Selous Game Reserve

1 July 2011 -

The Tanzanian government has approved plans to mine uranium within the frontiers of Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage Site in the south of the country.
Ezekiel Maige, Tanzania's natural resources minister and tourism minister, said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation that the mining project will affect only 0.69% of the land within the park.
The mining project is expected to bring in about $200 million each year, with around $5 million going to the Tanzanian government. Some of this money will go toward managing the park, which costs around $490,000 each year, Maige said.
Mining operations within Selous Game Reserve should generate somewhere around 1,600 jobs.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has requested that Tanzania performs environmental assessments of the mining before it gives its approval.
Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest faunal reserves in the world. Some species, such as the African Wild Dog and the Cape buffalo, are found in greater numbers within this reserve than in any other African game reserve or park.

See the original article at the BBC News: Africa page here.

Despite letter to UN, proposed Serengeti Highway could remain a possibility

29 June 2011 -

A letter from the Tanzanian government to the United Nations's World Heritage Center is causing confusion in the international community about the proposed construction of a commercial Serengeti Highway through Serengeti National Park.
Conservationists and world heritage advocates are puzzling over the letter's ambiguous language and certain indeterminate word choices. Though many throughout the international heritage community originally heralded the letter as an announcement of the construction project's abandonment, second looks at the message have raised alarming doubts about the Tanzanian government's intentions on whether or not to build the road.
The Tanzanian government incited uproar among the international heritage committee last summer when it announced its intentions to build a 33-mile highway across the national park, a World Heritage Site. Such a highway would seriously impede the annual north-south migrations of a number of species of iconic African wildlife, including the blue wildebeest.

See the original article from nationalgeographic.com's Daily News page 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.

UN cultural agency calls on Libyans and NATO to protect heritage sites

14 June 2011 –
The United Nations cultural organization has called on the warring parties in Libya to protect two World Heritage List sites, one of which has reportedly been shelled already and the other that is said to be a potential target of NATO air attacks.

The Old Town of Ghadamès, known as “the pearl of the desert,” was shelled by Government forces over the weekend, according to media reports. Other reports have said that NATO has refused to rule out the possibility of bombing the Roman town of Leptis Magna, east of Tripoli, which allegedly has warehouses of Government arms.

Read more, here.

What Future for the World Heritage Convention?

As the World Heritage Convention approaches its 40th anniversary, how can we ensure that it delivers maximum conservation results? This is the subject of the second World Conservation Debate and we'd like to hear your views.

Read the whole article, here.

Federal, local officials to decide on paving road to Chaco Canyon

7 June 2011 -
A fight over the future of one of New Mexico's greatest historic treasures could soon find a resolution when local county officials and the federal government finally answer a nearly seven year-old question: Should the road to Chaco Canyon be paved?

See the full article, by Bobby Magill, on the New West Travel & Outdoors website here.

ICOMOS recommends against Le Corbusier buildings' World Heritage nomination

3 June 2011 -
A consultant has recommended to UNESCO that they reject a proposal to include 19 buildings designed by French architect Le Corbusier on their list of world heritage sites.
The buildings up for recognition are located in 6 countries, and includes the National Museum of Western Art in Japan.
The International Council Of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) says its recommendation to reject the Le Corbusiers is based on their opinion that they fail to "demonstrate remarkable universal significance of the modern architectural movement," according to the Daily Yomiyuri Online.

See the original article on planetizen.com here.

UNESCO receives 42 nominations to join World Heritage List

5 May 2011 –
More than 40 natural or cultural sites – including five from countries never represented before – have been nominated for inscription this year on the World Heritage List run by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Read the whole article here.

Reflect and conserve

By Ashley Chappo, Columnist on April 29, 2011 (University of Virginia)

COLLEGE years pass us by quickly. No one knows this better than the graduating Class of 2011. Therefore, as we enjoy our remaining days here, we should take time to reflect on the qualities that make the University truly distinct.

One is the University’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our University, along with Jefferson’s Monticello, shares a place among the world’s most remarkable and valuable treasures, including the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon.

In the United States, there are 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 17 of which are national parks. The University is the only college in the nation that enjoys the rare honor of World Heritage status. It became a World Heritage site in 1987 thanks to the efforts of the National Park Service.

As University students, we are privileged to live within the shadow of history. Every day for four years, we are able to walk beneath the marble columns of one of our nation’s most important cultural landmarks. Its architectural and educational designs embody the ideals of the American republic and emphasize a spirit of democracy, only achievable by one of the world’s principal constitutional experimenters.

Jefferson’s Academical Village was a revolutionary educational plan — its 10 pavilions “serve as an encyclopaedia of classical and neoclassical architectural designs” and its Rotunda stands as a “half-scale copy of the Pantheon in Rome.” United beneath the colonnades, we all learn within one of our nation’s most beautiful and enthralling landmarks.

As residents of Charlottesville and University students, we are subjects to an extraordinary heritage. We owe our thanks to those who preserve and maintain this national legacy. Before we leave the University, we should take advantage of the history around us and the cultural heritage to which we are heirs. We should learn what our status as a “World Heritage site” means, and why it is important.

The United States always has stood at the front of the conservation and preservation movements. Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in 1872, sparking a national park idea that would forever change the world. The idea of a nationally administered public land was a new concept; it had significant implications for the modern conservation movement. A national park was at its core democratic — all individuals of a nation would share in the collective treasures of their environment.

Not surprisingly, a movement also emerged to establish the national park idea at an international level. In 1965, the idea of a “World Heritage Trust” was put forward during a White House Conference. The purpose of this trust would be to look after and preserve “the world’s superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the entire world citizenry.”

In 1972, the World Heritage Convention — also known as the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage — was adopted by UNESCO. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In accordance with the World Heritage Convention, preservation and conservation became not only national, but international interests. The Convention maintained a two part goal: the conservation of nature and the preservation of culture.

Of the 911 World Heritage sites, 704 are designated as cultural, 180 as natural and 27 as mixed properties. All potential new World Heritage sites are recommended by member nations of the World Heritage Convention. Each member state may voluntarily nominate its own national sites to be selected based on a strict set of criteria.

In Charlottesville, we are lucky to live close to two other historic sites, which currently sit on the Tentative List to be considered for UNESCO World Heritage site status — Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond. Along with our own university and Jefferson’s Monticello, these sites encompass our most precious cultural heritage.

To be accepted onto the World Heritage List, a site must be of “outstanding universal value” and “meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.” All nominations of new American sites are overseen by the Secretary of the Interior. To be considered, a site already must be designated a federal property, a national historic landmark or a national natural landmark. Nominations then are assessed by a smaller, elected body of 21 member nations, known as the World Heritage Committee. The committee selects new World Heritage Sites and through the World Heritage Fund provides assistance, guidance and training to member nations.

Once a new site is designated, direct authority remains in the hands of the member nation to continue to protect and preserve the property. Most sites are maintained either by the national, state or local government, or by a tribal or private authority. In the United States, the majority of our World Heritage Sites are managed and maintained by the National Park Service.

Today, the University maintains a deep connection with the National Park Service and the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. We should understand this connection — it can teach us a lot about the importance of conservation and preservation in the modern age. We are truly lucky to attend the University, and we must remember that we gain our education not only in the classroom, but also in our presence among the colonnades.

Ashley Chappo’s column usually appeared Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.chappo@cavalierdaily.com.

Aboriginal leaders quit World Heritage

Two Aboriginal leaders have walked away from an effort to establish a World Heritage area in Cape York, labelling it a rubber stamping process for the Bligh government's green agenda.

Read more, here.

Oil Spill has Reached Inaccessible Island, a World Heritage Site

ABOARD PRINCE ALBERT II: Expedition staff environmental scientist, Claudia Holgate received an email from Tristan da Cunha Department of Conservation director, Trevor Glass indicating that oil from the wrecked freighter “Oliva” had now reached Inaccessible Island, a World Heritage Site. To read the whole article, click here.