During its 39th session, the World Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed 24 new sites to UNESCO's World Heritage List and made significant modifications to the boundaries of three additional ones, including cultural, natural and mixed properties.
The inscriptions include the Blue and John Crow Mountains in Jamaica; the Singapore Botanical Gardens; and extension of the boundaries of the Cape Floral Region Protected Area in South Africa and of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Viet Nam; as well as many cultural sites around the globe.
8 July 2015: During its 39th session, the World Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed 24 new sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List and made significant modifications to the boundaries of three additional ones, including cultural, natural and mixed properties. The inscriptions include the Blue and John Crow Mountains in Jamaica, the Singapore Botanical Gardens, and extension of the boundaries of the Cape Floral Region Protected Area in South Africa and of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Viet Nam, as well as many cultural sites around the globe.
Held from 28 June – 8 July 2015, in Bonn, Germany, the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee examined proposals to inscribe 36 properties on the World Heritage List. The Committee also examined the state of conservation of 95 sites already on the List, as well as the status of the 46 properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Among the newly inscribed cultural sites, the Singapore Botanical Gardens demonstrate the evolution of a British tropical colonial botanic garden that has become a modern scientific institution used for both plant conservation and education and research. Inscribed as a mixed cultural and natural site, the Blue and John Crow Mountains in Jamaica is a biodiversity hotspot for the Caribbean Islands, which provided refuge for the indigenous Tainos and then for Maroons escaping slavery. The site is also rich in intangible cultural heritage, expressed through religious sites, traditional medicine and dances. Furthermore, the boundaries of two natural sites were extended: the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas in South Africa, one of the world’s great centers of terrestrial biodiversity including national parks, nature reserves, wilderness areas, State forests and mountain catchment areas, which were first inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004; and the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Viet Nam, featuring great geological and biological diversity including a large number of caves, underground rivers and many endemic species, which was first inscribed on the List in 2003.
The session focused on the protection of heritage in the event of armed conflict or natural disaster. The Bonn Declaration, adopted by the Committee, recommends that heritage protection be included in the mandate of peacekeeping missions where appropriate, and calls on UNESCO to enhance its leadership in coordinating responses to the protection of heritage in cases of armed conflict or natural disaster. In addition, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova launched the global coalition ‘Unite for Heritage,’ which aims to strengthen mobilization in the face of deliberate damage to cultural heritage, particularly in the Middle East.
The 40th session of the World Heritage Committee will be held from 10-20 July 2016, in Istanbul, Turkey. [List of New Inscribed Properties] [Session Webpage] [UNESCO Press Release, 8 July] [UNESCO Press Release, 5 July] [UNESCO Press Release, 4 July] [UNESCO Press Release, 3 July] [UNESCO Press Release, 3 July, on natural and mixed sites] [UNESCO Press Release, 1 July] [UNESCO Press Release, 30 June] [UNESCO Press Release, 28 June]