We need better protection of our World Heritage Sites say NGOs

If our World Heritage sites are to remain undisturbed from mining and other extractive activities they urgently need to have better protection measures say conservationists from nine leading NGOs.

World Heritage sites are recognised as areas of outstanding universal value to humanity for their natural or cultural values, and often protect areas of outstanding natural beauty and habitats for endangered species.

Sadly, despite their legally-protected status, many of these sites face serious threats. Mining, infrastructure development, poaching, illegal logging, climate change and agricultural encroachment threaten to damage the habitats and species that make these places so special.

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Natural world sites being recommended for listing as new World Heritage Sites

Posted by: Kevin Heath / 5 hours ago

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have begun the 39th meeting of the World Heritage Sites Committee in Doha, Qatar. Over the next few days the members will be looking at the state of the world’s prime wildlife and natural world sites.

They will also be looking at naming a number of new sites which are of particular importance for protecting the natural world. The following sites are being recommended for inclusion onto the list because of their importance to the natural world.

Okavango Delta, Botswana.

The Okavango Delta is a stunning wetland in Africa. It is a river delta that is classed as an endorheic delta – or an inland delta. It does not discharge its waters into a sea but into the Kalahari Desert. The delta covers 1.8 million hectares with 600,000 being permanent swamp and the remainder being flooded grasslands.

The amount of area to be included as World Heritage Site will be just over 2 million hectares and there will be an additional 2.3 million hectares set up as a buffer zone to protect the core area.

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Oil company Total promises to stay away from World Heritage sites

February 2014: Oil and gas giant Total has confirmed in a letter to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre that it will not carry out extractive operations within natural World Heritage sites, including Virunga National Park. Until now, Royal Dutch Shell plc was the only oil and gas company to have made such a commitment.

“Total’s commitment clearly shows that operating in World Heritage sites is not an option for responsible extractive industries,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General. “It gives us hope that the oil and gas, and mining sectors as a whole will fully embrace their shared responsibility towards the conservation of our planet’s most valuable and irreplaceable places. We call on all extractive companies, and the governments who regulate them, to declare World Heritage sites as ‘no-go’ zones.” 

Threats from the extractive industry are particularly serious in Africa, where one in four natural sites is affected. Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been at highest risk in recent years, after the Congolese Government granted permits to carry out exploration in the park. 

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