July 2008 - #17

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New inscribed sites – with reviews!

Unesco hadn’t even finished its contemplations over this year’s new additions and the visitor reviews of the nominated sites were coming in already.

No less than 10 sites are already covered, from the “well maintained and liveable” Fujian Tulou to the fascinating Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve: “As you approach the butterfly area, the ground becomes covered with the bodies of dead insects….”.

These stories will feature prominently on the website’s frontpage for the coming weeks. And now I want to see those reviews of Vanuatu or New Caledonia coming!

I think we also have enough to discuss about this year’s decisions and trends over at the Forum. We’re still awaiting the official records of the Meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Quebec, a document usually good for a conspiracy theory or two. Have a look around for the latest on this and other items at http://www.worldheritagesite.org/forums/index.php.

For those of you who hadn’t heard or read, here’s the full list of inscriptions for 2008:

· Preah Vihear Temple Cambodia

· The Joggins Fossil Cliffs Canada

· Fujian Tulou China

· Mount Sanqingshan National Park China

· Stari Grad Plain Croatia

· Historic Centre of Camagüey Cuba

· Fortifications of Vauban France

· The Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems France

· Berlin Modernism Housing Estates Germany

· Surtsey Iceland

· The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iran Iran

· Bahá’i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee Israel

· Mantua and Sabbioneta Italy

· Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes Italy, Switzerland

· Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan Kazakhstan

· The Mijikenda Kaya Forests Kenya

· Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca Malaysia

· Le Morne Cultural Landscape Mauritius

· Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve Mexico

· Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco Mexico

· Kuk Early Agricultural Site Papua New Guinea

· San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano San Marino

· Al_Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih) Saudi Arabia

· The Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area Slovakia

· The Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona Switzerland

· Chief Roi Mata’s Domain Vanuatu

· Socotra Archipelago Yemen

Major projects finished

I can’t remember ever having been so busy with the website as during the past 2 months. Fortunately, two major projects that were aimed at providing more complete background info about the history of WHS have now finished.

All tentative sites, and all sites that have been nominated in the past, can now be reviewed too. They all have a separate page now, much like those of the inscribed sites. The easiest way to get to them is via the countrypages.

Also, the ‘decisions database’ has been implemented. All past decisions made by the World Heritage Committee regarding a (future) WHS can now be seen at the according sitepages. How would we ever have known for example that the name of the Québec WHS already has changed twice since its inscription (http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/quebec.html)?

That’s it for this edition,

Els
webmaster www.worldheritagesite.org
for questions or ideas, contact me