Thanks for the info. I didn't know about Angkor Borei, It may be just a little too far for me to get to in the time I have. Will give me a reason to come back perhaps!

The deadline for submitting nomination papers for sites to be considered in 2012 is fast approaching - Jan 31 2011!! We should be getting a better picture soon of what sites have passed this hurdle.

Perhaps not surprisingly India has failed to get its part of the Le Corbusier Trans National nomination ready - Chandigarh
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Heritage-status-lost-for-now/artic leshow/7357043.cms

Interesting, So Chandigarh seems to be going it alone instead of throwing in its hat with the rest of the le Corbusier nomination.
I was always under the impression that it would just tack itself on to the other le Corbusier site as an extension when it finally got itself ready. But now they are looking at adding the works of other architects to a separate nomination.
I guess if any of the sites could go it alone Chandigarh would be the only one that could really swing it, but I would have thought the appeal of both proposals would have lay in its international spread. But hey ho, there are plenty of 15th century monastic movements that have multiple entries, why shouldn't the 20th century's most influential architect.

I wonder if they would then think of adding Nek Chand's garden to the Chandigarh nomination, would be great to see it included, but I doubt it would.

2012 China's WHS bets:

Mixed cultural and natural site:
Sites of the Yuan Dynasty Capital

For natural:
The protection zone of Chengjiang fossil lagerstätte

Here's a news clip (sorry, cannot find in English)
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/kvoqC-EedGk/

Another news clip (in Chinese only) on the preparations made by the local government for Yuan dynasty sites inscription.
http://www.ccdy.cn/lishi/content/2011-01/20/content_766550.htm
There was a line in the report that wrote: "On November 2010, the local government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region allocated 40,000,000 RMB new special funds for the protection and archaeological excavations of both sites."

Rio will try again too?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5htyXFRmzBUHx364R5UoYYgAt LQbw?docId=6322110

I don't get why they are spreading themselves around the city. Why not just go for Sugarloaf Mountain? I my view Copacabana is hardly different for any other patch of sand in the world...

There are those iconic mosaics of course! The concept originating from Portugal but now a trademark in many Brazilian locations and, particularly Copacabana
I looked them up on Wiki and discovered something about a Brazilian landscape architect called Roberto Burle Marx ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Burle_Marx ) who designed them. I was surprised however to discover their date being as late as 1970. On further reading I wonder if the famous "wave" pattern doesn't go back rather further. Another article says that it the Copacabana sidewlak was "redesigned" by Marx in the 70s ( http://www.riofilmcommission.rj.gov.br/location/copacabana-beach ). The wave pattern exists only on the sidewalk next to the beach and there are loads of other mosaics on the central reservation and on the sidewalk along the city side. I have looked up pictures of Rio in my old National Geographics from Sept 1939 and March 1955 and both show the wave pattern mosaics in the city (e.g outside the Court Building) - but not, I think along the beach front. Copacabana beach as we know it is of course very much a creation of the 1930s. I don't know if the waterfront hotels/apartments have any architectural merit. Any knowledge about this from our "modern architecture experts"?

This suprisingly might be ready for 2012 too: the Black River Gorges in Mauritius (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/culture/2011-04/19/c_13836304.htm)

I was there myself last November, and found it to be the most impressive sight in Mauritius.

Canada seeks to inscribe Grand Pre' historic site in 2012. The area looks interesting, however I am left wondering what is actually being nominated. Most (if not all) structures are 100% replica's, there is also a museum.

Here is a quote from the nomination: "The tragic deportation of the Acadians in 1755 from the lands they had physically created through hard work and ingenuity is marked by the memorial chapel (1922-1930), the Deportation Cross (1924), the bronze statue of Evangeline, the heroine of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's romantic poem Evangeline (1920), and other monuments."

The "historic remains" are primarily the landscape the Arcadians helped shape. This apparently is the core aspect of the nomination.

Quote from the nomination on historical remains from the Arcadians: "The area still bears the distinct settlement and land use patterns of dyked marshlands, uplands, and forest rising from the bay that identified their prosperous agricultural settlement from 1682 to 1755, as well as vestiges of the unique Acadian adaptation of 17th-century French dyking practice to the salt marshlands."

I am curious to see how the WHC views this nomination. Interesting nevertheless. It is being nominated under the criteria of iii, iv, and vi.

http://www.bostoncanadatravel.com/grand-pre-historic-site-applies-for-2012-unesco-sta tus

Malaysia -Lenggong Valley Archaeological sites

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/World__8217_soldeststonetoolsinourheritage/Article /

Also see Wiki for more background
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenggong

Has someone found/seen the possible list for 2012 yet? It usually is included at the end of the report of the WHC meeting the year before.

Summary of Possible 2012 Nominations (So Far...)

Europe and North America (10)

*Belgium (1)
Cultural
- Mining sites of Wallonie

*Germany (2)?
Cultural
- Margravial Opera House Bayreuth – Outstanding
Monument of Baroque Theatre Culture
- Schwetzingen: a Prince Elector's Summer Residence

*United Kingdom (1)
Cultural
- The Twin Monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow

*Italy (1)
Cultural
- Vineyard landscapes of Piedmont

*France (1)
Cultural
- Landscapes of Champagne

*Spain (1)
Mixed
- Monfragüe Trujillo Plasencia

*Russia (1)
Natural
- Lena Pillars Nature Park

*Canada (2)?
Cultural
- Áísínai'pi (Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park)
- Grand Pre

Asia (6)

*China (2)
Mixed
- Sites of the Yuan Dynasty Capital
Natural
- The protection zone of Chengjiang fossil lagerstätte

*Cambodia (2)?
Cultural
- Banteay Chmar
- Sambor Prai Kuk

*Malaysia (1)
Cultural
- Lenggong Valley Archaeological sites

*India (1)
Cultural
- River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra River in Assam

Africa (3)

*Cape Verde (1)
Cultural
- Concentration Camp of Tarrafal

*Senegal (1)
Cultural
- Bassari Region

*Mauritius (1)
Natural
- Black River Gorges in Mauritius

Latin America (2)

*Brazil (1)
Cultural
- Rio de Janeiro Cultural Landscape

Tansnational Nomination - Peru, Equador, Chile, Bolivia, Columbia, Argentina
Cultural
- Qhapaq Nan

This is just a summary of news and posts on potential sites up for inscription in 2012. There will undoubtebly be many more sites up for nomination, moreover, some of these sites may not be submitted for the 2012 WHC.

A suprising one - Nepal's Lo Manthang in Mustang

Unesco has published the List up for 2012:

AFRICA
- Chad Lacs d'Ounianga
- Senegal Pays Bassari : paysages culturels Bassari, Peul et Bédik

ARAB STATES
- Morocco Rabat, capitale moderne et ville historique : un patrimoine en partage
- Qatar Al Zubarah Archaeological Site

ASIA / PACIFIC
- China Chengjiang Fossil Site
- China Site of Xanadu
- India Hill Forts of Rajasthan
- Indonesia Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) Gonbad-e Qābus
- Malaysia Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley
- Palau Rock Islands Southern Lagoon

EUROPE / NORTH AMERICA
- Belgium Sites miniers majeurs de Wallonie
- Canada Landscape of Grand Pré
- Croatia Sacral Complex on the remains of the Roman Forum in Zadar
- France Bassin minier du Nord-Pas de Calais
- Germany Margravial Opera House Bayreuth – Outstanding Monument of Baroque Theatre Culture
- Germany Schwetzingen: a Prince Elector's Summer Residence
- Israel Nahal Ma'arot / Wadi el-Mughara Caves, Mount Carmel
- Italy Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato
- Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of: Archaeo-astronomical Site - Kokino
- Portugal Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications
- Russian Federation Russian Kremlins
- Russian Federation Lena Pillars Nature Park
- Slovenia / Spain Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija
- Spain Plasencia–Monfrague-Trujillo: Mediterranean Landscape
- Sweden Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland
- Turkey Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük
- United Kingdom Twin Monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow
- Ukraine Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral with Related Monastic Buildings, St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (extension)

LATIN AMERICA / CARIBBEAN
- Brazil Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea
- Mexico Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve

Some first impressions:
- With Zadar, Croatia stays true to my theory about only nominating potential holiday sites along the coast.
- Are the mining sites in Wallonia and those over the border in France indeed 2 separate nominations?
- Regarding Qatar: I hope not that every Gulf state will now start nominating its meagre ancient remains, after the succes of the Emirates with Al-Ain
- Germany has the guts to nominate yet another European castle, and Italy does the same with another vineyard
- And do note the heavy percentage in European sites, 17 out of 32 - they also seem better in submitting COMPLETE nomination dossiers