Tropical rainforests of Indonesia where the last remaining orangutans live and South Africa's thousands of unique flowering plants are among the five new sites that have been been approved for addition to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The ongoing 28th session of the World Heritage Committee underway here is chaired by Zhang Xinsheng, Chinese vice minister of education. The committee has approved extensions to three natural sites already on the List and five new World Heritage sites.
Denmark - Ilulissat Icefjord - Located on the west coast of Greenland, 250-km north of the Arctic Circle, Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord, covering 40,240 hectares, is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea.
An iceberg floats in Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord (Photo courtesy Government of Canada)
Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world, moving about 19 meters per day. It annually calves over 35 cubic kilometers of ice - 10 percent of the production of all Greenland calf ice and more than any other glacier outside Antarctica. Studied for over 250 years, the committee says it has helped develop our understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology.
"The combination of a huge ice-sheet and the dramatic sounds of a fast-moving glacial ice-stream calving into a fjord covered by icebergs makes for a dramatic and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon," the committee said
Indonesia – Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra- The 2.5 million hectare Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site is already protected by the Indonesian government as three national parks: Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park.
An orangutan swings through the Sumatran rainforest. (Photo courtesy Solcomhouse)
Threatened by illegal logging and roadbuilding, this ecosystem holds the greatest potential for long term conservation of the distinctive and diverse life forms of Sumatra, including many endangered species.
The protected area is home to an estimated 10,000 plant species, including 17 endemic genera; more than 200 mammal species; and some 580 bird species of which 465 are resident and 21 are unique and found nowhere else on Earth.
Of the mammal species, 22 are Asian, not found elsewhere in the archipelago and 15 are confined to the Indonesian region, including the endemic Sumatran orangutan. This site also provides biogeographic evidence of the evolution of the island, the committee said.
Russian Federation - Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve - Located above the Arctic Circle, the site includes mountainous Wrangel Island covering 7,608 square kilometers, Herald Island covering 11 square kilometers and the surrounding waters.
Pacific walruses in Russia (Photo courtesy Wild Russia)
Wrangel was not glaciated during the Quaternary Ice Age resulting in exceptionally high levels of biodiversity for this region, the committee said.
The island has the world’s largest population of Pacific walrus and the highest density of ancestral polar bear dens. It is a major feeding ground for the grey whale migrating from Mexico and the northernmost nesting ground for 100 migratory bird species, many endangered.
Currently, 417 species and sub-species of vascular plants have been identified on the island, double that of any other Arctic tundra territory of comparable size and more than any other Arctic island. Some species are derivative of widespread continental forms, others are the result of recent hybridization and 23 are endemic.
Saint Lucia - Pitons Management Area - The 2,909 hectare site near the town of Soufriere on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia protects the Pitons, two volcanic spires rising side by side from the sea - 770 meters and 743 meters high - linked by the Piton Mitan ridge.
The Pitons of Saint Lucia (Photo courtesy West Indies On Line)
The volcanic complex includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. Coral reefs cover almost 60 percent of the site’s marine area.
The committee cites a survey that revealed 168 species of finfish, 60 species of cnidaria, including corals, eight molluscs, 14 sponges, 11 echinoderms, 15 arthropods and eight annelid worms. Hawksbill turtles are seen inshore, whale sharks and pilot whales offshore.
On land, the vegetation is tropical moist forest grading to subtropical wet forest with small areas of dry forest and wet elfin woodland on the summits.
At least 148 plant species have been recorded on Gros Piton, 97 on Petit Piton and the intervening ridge, among them eight rare tree species. The Gros Piton is home to some 27 bird species, five of them found nowhere else; three indigenous rodents, one opossum, three bats, eight reptiles and three amphibians.
South Africa - Cape Floral Region Protected Areas - The committee called this new World Heritage site in Cape Province, South Africa a "serial site" because it is made up of eight protected areas, covering 553,000 hectares.
These rare flowers, Geissorhiza radians, are part of the Cape Floral Kingdom. (Photo courtesy Botanical Society of South Africa)
The Cape Floral Region is one of the richest areas for plants in the wrld. With less than 0.5 percent of the area of Africa it holds nearly 20 percent of the continent’s flora. The site displays outstanding ecological and biological processes associated with the Fynbos vegetation, which is unique to the Cape Floral Region.
The outstanding diversity and density of the plants and the number of native species are among the highest worldwide. Unique plant reproductive strategies, adaptive to fire, patterns of seed dispersal by insects, as well as patterns of endemism and adaptive radiation found in the plant species "are of outstanding value to science," the committee said.
The committee also approved extensions for two World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom and one in Costa Rica.
UK - St. Kilda - First inscribed as a natural site in 1986, St. Kilda is a volcanic archipelago "with spectacular landscapes," the committee said. Situated off the coast of the Hebrides it takes in the islands of Hirta, Dun, Soay and Boreray. It has some of the highest cliffs in Europe, inhabited by large colonies of rare and endangered species of birds, especially puffins and gannets.
The marine area around the archipelago was extended, almost doubling the size of the site.
UK - Gough and Inaccessible Islands - The 14 square kilometer Inaccessible Island was added to the Gough Island Wildlife Reserve, in the South Atlantic, first inscribed in 1995. The site, now called Gough and Inaccessible Islands, is one of the least disrupted island and marine ecosystems in the cool temperate zone.
The island cliffs are free of introduced mammals and is inhabited by one of the world's largest colonies of sea birds.
Gough Island is home to two native species of land birds, the gallinule and the Gough rowettie, as well as to 12 endemic species of plants, while Inaccessible Island has two birds, eight plants and at least 10 invertebrates found nowhere else.
Costa Rica - The Area de Conservación Guanacaste - Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999, the Guanacaste Conservation Area was extended with the addition of a 15,000 hectare private property, St Elena.
"It contains important natural habitats for the conservation of biological diversity," the committee said, "including the best dry forest habitats from Central America to northern Mexico and key habitats for endangered or rare plant and animal species."
Governments nominate sites for inscription on the World Heritage List if they are Parties to the treaty known as the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
UNESCO helps States Parties safeguard World Heritage properties by providing technical assistance and professional training. And UNESCO provides emergency assistance for World Heritage properties in immediate danger. The committee meeting in Suzhou will consider additions to the List of World Heritage in Danger later this week.
In addition, UNESCO supports States Parties' public awareness building activities for World Heritage conservation, encourages participation of local people in the preservation of their cultural and natural heritage, and encourages international cooperation in conservation of cultural and natural heritage.
