Global sites vie for World Heritage status

Global sites vie for World Heritage status
By admin


Inca trails spanning six countries and a French cave with some of the earliest known paintings are among the sites expected to get World Heritage status at a UNESCO meeting.

Altogether at least 30 natural and cultural sites, including the Arbil Citadel in Iraq's Kurdistan, are vying to get the United Nations cultural body's prestigious distinction and add their names to an already 981-strong list.

But, in a first for a developed country, Australia is asking that large swathes of its Tasmanian Wilderness – one of the last expanses of temperate rainforest in the world – be delisted to make way for loggers.

At the meeting, which runs until June 25, UNESCO will also look into Australia's efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

Inclusion on the World Heritage list has significant economic implications as the site is then eligible for financial assistance towards preservation and the coveted status is also a powerful draw for tourists.

The listing of the Qhapaq Nan – a huge network of roads once used by the mighty Inca Empire that snake over perilously high snowy peaks over more than 30,000 kilometres – would benefit not one but six countries overall.

The trails go through Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – the last of which added the routes to its tentative list in 2001, and was later followed by the others.

Submitted by France, the Chauvet Cave, located in a limestone plateau of the meandering Ardeche River in southern France, contains some of the earliest known paintings, drawn more than 30,000 years ago.

The grotto has more than 1000 pictures – many of which feature animals such as bison, mammoths and rhinos.

The committee, which consists of representatives from 21 countries elected for six years, will also use the Doha meeting to issue warnings.

It has, for instance, raised concern that there are too few restrictions governing the development of skyscrapers in London, which it says could affect Westminster Palace, a World Heritage site.

The nominated sites have already been examined by two consultative bodies that transmit their positive or negative recommendations to the committee, although these are not always followed.

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