42 nieuwe nominaties voor Werelderfgoedlijst UNESCO

Bosolifanten in het Sangha Park

Meer dan 40 natuurlijke of culturele bezienswaardigheden, waaronder vijf uit landen die nog niet vertegenwoordigd zijn op de lijst, zijn bij de UNESCO voorgedragen om opgenomen te worden op de Werelderfgoedlijst.

Dat heeft een wordvoerder van de UNESCO verklaard. Het 21-leden tellende Werelderfgoedcomité zal tijdens een ontmoeting in Parijs van 19 tot 29 juni besluiten welke van de 42 genomineerde plaatsen op de lijst zullen worden gezet.

Momenteel bestaat de lijst uit 911 lokaties die een uitnemende universele waarde hebben.

De UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) geeft in de verklaring een overzicht van een aantal plaatsen die zijn voorgedragen, en welke landen bezienswaardigheden hebben opgegeven.

Voor Barbados is dat de stad Bridgetown en zijn Garnizoen, terwijl Jamaica het Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park heeft voorgedragen (foto).

De Verenigde Arabische Emiraten (VAE) nomineerde de culturele bezienswaardigheden van Al Ain: Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud en de "Oases Areas".

Micronesië en Palau hebben gezamenlijk de Yapese Stone Money sites ingestuurd. De stenen (rai) staan gewoon verspreid over de eilanden, langs de weg en tegen huizen. Ze dienden als ruilmiddel.

De rai wisselden weliswaar van eigenaar maar zelden van plaats. Aangezien ze erg moeilijk te verplaatsen waren onthield iedereen in een dorp van wie welke steen was en bij elke transactie waren getuigen aanwezig. Hierdoor was diefstal dan ook niet mogelijk.

De Republiek Congo heeft samen met haar buurlanden Kameroen en de Centraal Afrikaanse Republiek het Trinationale Sangha Park genomineerd. Hier treft men onder meer nog westelijke laaglandgorilla's (Western Lowland Gorilla's), Afrikaanse bosolifanten en Bongo antilopen aan.

Verklaring UNESCO:

UNESCO RECEIVES 42 NOMINATIONS TO JOIN WORLD HERITAGE LIST

More than 40 natural or cultural sites – including five from countries never represented before – have been World Heritage List run by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The agency’s 21-member World Heritage Committee will decide which of the 42 nominated sites to include on the list when it meets in Paris from 19 to 29 June. The committee will also examine the state of conservation of 34 sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Sites are proposed by States parties to the World Heritage Convention and then the applications are reviewed by either the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) or the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Barbados, Jamaica, Micronesia, Palau, the Republic of Congo and the United Arab Emirates, which have never had a site on the World Heritage List, have nominated sites this year.

Barbados has nominated the city of Bridgetown and its Garrison, while Jamaica has proposed Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. The UAE submitted the Cultural Sites of Al Ain: Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas.

Micronesia and Palau have made a joint nomination for the Yapese Stone Money sites, while the Republic of Congo has joined with neighbouring Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR) to propose the Trinational Sangha.

Other natural and/or cultural properties have been nominated by Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Viet Nam.

The number of properties already on the World Heritage List, which recognizes sites for their “outstanding universal value,” is 911.

(UNESCO, New York, May 5 2011)

Al Ain (De Bronnen) in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten

5 nieuwe locaties op Werelderfgoedlijst UNESCO

De verklaring van UNESCO:

FIVE NEW CULTURAL SITES MAKE IT TO THE UN WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The United Nations agency mandated to conserve the world's heritage has inscribed new cultural sites in Viet Nam, China, Tajikistan, France and the Netherlands on the World Heritage List and agreed to the extension of two cultural properties in Germany and Norway.

The Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Viet Nam yesterday became the 900th site to be inscribed on UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The Citadel was built in the 11th century by the Ly Viet Dynasty, marking the independence of the Dai Viet. It was constructed on the remains of a Chinese fortress dating from the 7th century and stands on drained land reclaimed from the Red River Delta in Hanoi.

The World Heritage Committee is meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, to review candidates for inclusion on its World Heritage List and assess the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Also gaining recognition is the historic monuments of Dengfeng in China. Mount Songshang is considered to be the central sacred mountain of China. At the foot of this 1500 metre high mountain, close to the city of Dengfeng in Henan province and spread over a 40 square-kilometre circle, stand eight clusters of buildings and sites, including three Han Que gates -- remains of the oldest religious edifices in China -- temples, the Zhougong Sundial Platform and the Dengfeng Observatory.

In Tajikistan, the Sarazm, which means "where the land begins," is an archaeological site bearing testimony to the development of human settlements in Central Asia, from the 4th millennium BCE to the end of the 3rd millennium BCE. The ruins demonstrate the early development of proto-urbanization in this region. The centre of settlement, one of the oldest in Central Asia, is situated between a mountainous region suitable for cattle rearing by nomadic pastoralists, and a large valley conducive to the development of agriculture and irrigation by the first settled populations in the region.

The Episcopal city of Albi in south-western France reflects the culmination of a medieval architectural and urban ensemble. Today the Old Bridge (Pont-Vieux), the Saint-Salvi quarter and its church are testimony to its initial development in the 10th and 11th centuries. Following the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics in the 13th century it became a powerful episcopal city. Built in a unique southern French Gothic style from local brick in characteristic red and orange colours, the lofty fortified cathedral dominates the city, demonstrating the power regained by the Roman Catholic clergy.

In the Netherlands, the 17th Singelgracht is a historic urban ensemble of the canal district of Amsterdam and was a project for a new "port city" built at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. It comprises a network of canals to the west and south of the historic old town and the medieval port that encirc
led the old town and was accompanied by the repositioning inland of the city's fortified boundaries, the Singelgracht.

The committee decided that Germany's Upper Harz mining water management system, which lies south of the Rammelsberg mines and the town of Goslar, would remain on the list. The facility has been developed over a period of some 800 years to assist in the process of extracting ore for the production of non-ferrous metals. Its construction was first undertaken in the Middle Ages by Cistercian monks, and it was then developed on a vast scale from the end of the 16th century until the 19th century. It is made up of an extremely complex but perfectly coherent system of artificial ponds, small channels, tunnels and underground drains.

Also to remain on the list is the Røros Mining Town in Norway. The history of the town of Røros is linked to the copper mines. Established in the 17th century, they were exploited for 333 years until 1977. Completely rebuilt after its destruct
ion by Swedish troops in 1679, Røros contains some 80 wooden one- and two-storey houses and a smelting house. Many of these buildings have preserved their blackened wooden façades, giving the town a medieval appearance. The site was first inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980.

The new sites are in addition to 10 other mixed and cultural sites inscribed during the current session of the committee. The 10 are situated in Sri Lanka, the United States, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Australia, India, Republic of Iran, Marshall Islands and Republic of Korea.

The meeting opened on 25 July and will conclude on Tuesday. A total of 39 sites are being considered for inscription on the World Heritage List.

(VN: Aug 1, 2010)