UN Agency Adds New Sites To World Heritage List

UN Agency Adds Two New Sites To The World Heritage List

New York, Jul 31 2010 1:10PM

Two new sites -- the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka and the Papahânaumokuâkea islands and atolls in the United States -- have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today.

Situated in the south-central part of Sri Lanka, the Central Highlands comprise the Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles Conservation Forest.

The forests, where the land rises to 2,500 metres above sea-level, are home to an extraordinary range of flora and fauna, including several endangered species such as the western-purple-faced langur, the Horton Plains slender loris and the Sri Lankan leopard. The region is considered a super biodiversity hotspot.

Papahânaumokuâkea is a vast and isolated linear cluster of small, low lying islands and atolls, with their surrounding ocean, roughly 250 kilometres to the northwest of the main Hawaiian Archipelago and extending over some 1,931 kilometres.

The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death.

On two of the islands, Nihoa and Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons. It is one of the largest marine protected areas in the world.

The new inscriptions bring the total number of World Heritage Properties to 892.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has been meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, this week to review candidates for inclusion on its World Heritage List and assess the List of World Heritage in Danger.

ENDS