Then what's the POINT?!?!?!?!

I notice in the Draft notes of the 2019 WHC, that Uganda stepped forward to host the 2021 WHC. Nothing decided yet, but likely to go on.

If Uganda hosts in 2021, I certainly hope they make some progress repairing the Tombs of Buganda Kings in Kasubi.

Plus they still have a referred site: Nyero rock painting.
It would be nice to have an African host country. Maybe this could also encourage other African countries to submit nominations.

Some potential candidates would be:

Zakouma (Chad) - incomplete in 2017
Lake Assal (Djibouti)
Dirre Sheikh Hussein (Ethiopia) - incomplete 2020
Holqa Sof Omar (Ethiopia) - incomplete 2016
Tenzug Tallensi (Ghana) - deferred 2014 and received assistance
Bigajos (Guinea Bissao) - deferred 2013
Mulanje (Malawi) - deferred 2014
Manden (Mali) - incomplete 2019
Oke Idanre (Nigeria) - incomplete 2010
Surame (Nigeria) - incomplete 2012
Central Slave Route (Tanzania) - incomplete 2012
Barotse (Zambia) - referred 2014

Absolutely! I'd love to see more African sites added to the list.

Indonesia - Kebun Raya Bogor or Bogor Botanic Gardens

Many news websites reported that the nomination will be sent to UNESCO this September, so possible 2021.

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2019/05/31/13441031/kebun-raya-bogor-diusulkan-jadi-warisan-dunia-ke-unesco

Japan and Korea's official nominations for 2021 have been announced. As previously reported, Hokkaido, Northeast North Jomon Ruins is the official nomination from Japan. For Korea, it is official on the Cultural Heritage Administration website (as expected) Gaya Tumuli.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190730/p2g/00m/0dm/095000c

2021 WHC Nominations: 23

Africa (1)
- Dirre Sheikh Hussein Religious, Cultural and Historical Site (Ethiopia)

Arab States (2)
- The Royal Mausoleums of Numidia, Mauretania and pre-Islamic funerary monuments (Algeria)
- As-Salt: The Place of Tolerance and Urban Hospitality (Jordan)

Asia/Pacific (10)
- Kebun Raya Bogor (Indonesia)
- Jômon Archaeological Sites in Northern Japan (Japan)
- Hin Nam No National Protected Area (Laos)
- Royal Belum State Park (Malaysia)
- Myauk-U Archaeological Area and Monuments (Myanmar)
- Port of Banbhore (Pakistan)
- Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (Philippines)
- Gaya Tumuli (Republic of Korea)
- Medieval Town of Khulbuk (Tajikistan)
- Monuments, Sites and Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna (Thailand)

Europe (11)
- Funeral Sites and Memorials of the First World War (Belgium, France)
- Viking Age Ring Fortresses (Denmark)
- ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz (Germany)
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire — The Lower German Limes (Germany, Netherlands)
- The Porticoes of Bologna (Italy)
- Alpes de la Méditerranée (Italy, France, Monaco)
- The Gdańsk Shipyard – the birthplace of "Solidarity" symbol of the fall of Communism in East-Central Europe (Poland)
- Mértola (Portugal)
- The Ribeira Sacra, Lugo and Orense (Spain)
- Historic Center of the Port City of Odessa (Ukraine)
- Slate Landscape of North West Wales (United Kingdom)

Latin America (2)
- Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Brazil)
- Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, Tlaxcala [extension] (Mexico)

Pending Status (TBD)
- Volcanoes and Forests of Mount Pelee and Pitons North of Martinique (France)
- Nice, ville de riviera (France)

I had missed this one coming up, it makes me rather happy, even if I'm not fully convinced this is what the WH list should be protecting.

Also if I haven't said it before winterkjm, thanks for your work in compiling and updating these so consistently. They are an essential resource.

Gdańsk is retrying to be listed under a different theme, I'm not 100% and Paul will probably chime in with details but they were rejected before. In today's session it would probably get inscribed.

Basically we should be seeing an Elbe delta site that goes through Dresden :D

Indeed - rather strange!!

1. The Polish T List Entry is for "Gdansk - Town of Memory and Freedom" . This had been nominated n 2007 but was withdrawn. It contains
a. A "complex of buildings in the Main Town" (Churches, chapels, mansions etc etc
b. A "Remembrance site. Westerplatte Peninsula - the place where WWII began"
c. A "Remembrance site. The part of Gdansk Shipyard associated with the emergence of Solidarity movement together with the Monument ot the Fallen Shipyard Workers

2. But the List of sites nominated in Jan 2019 for consideration at the 2020 WHC was for a site titled "The Gdańsk Shipyard – the birthplace of "Solidarity" and the symbol of the fall of Communism in East-Central Europe". So it appears that Gransk has pushed ahead just with "c" from the original T List site

3. However, the Papers for this year's WHC show that the nomination was regarded as "Incomplete"!!! I can find absolutely no reference to this fact in any article on the Web (despite searching in Polish!!). The inclusion of this site as a possibility for the 2021 WHC is therefore based on an assumption that Poland will have sorted out the problems by then and will proceed rather than confirmed information that it will be carried forward to 2021.

4. It appears that there has been a long running battle in Gdansk over the future of the Shipyard with developments of apartments and shopping centres etc potentially replacing everything "old". On the other side have been conservationists who want to keep at least a part of the old site because of its significance in Polish, European and World history and a campaign was created to save a historic crane etc. This article "Save the Cranes! Cultural Heritage in the Gdansk Shipyard" provides a good overview of the shipyard and of what has happened to it up to 2014.

5. In May 2018 there came announcements that the Shipyard would be nominated for WH status. The article is in Polish - a couple of (auto!!) translations from it - "I want to say one thing. For 2.5 years I have been fighting with the fact that the conservator is not an enemy. The conservator is a friend of investors and all interested parties (...) We hope that in the beautiful, historic buildings of the Imperial Shipyard, which has recently been entered into the register of monuments, shops, services, apartments will be built - in a word that life will be there "- Gawin pointed out." (Magdalena Gawin Deputiy Minister of Culture and National Heritage). And "if everything goes well and it could be worked out by the end of January 2019, then the chance to recognize the Shipyard Gdańsk as a World Heritage Site could take place at the turn of June and July 2020."

6. Completion of the Nomination by Jan 2019 would look to have been an impossibly tight timescale given that the announcement included statements like "We want to start this dialogue, the conclusion can not be prepared in isolation from the local reality, people who live and work here every day"

7. Nevertheless it appears that a Nomination was indeed sent to Paris in Jan 2019. This report of a Europa Nostra meeting in March 2019 refers to how good the Nomination file was!!! ("The IEHC members were impressed by the quality of the nomination file which was submitted to UNESCO in January 2019, presenting the outstanding universal value of the Gdansk shipyard in a convincing manner")

8. But not good enough unfortunately!! As late as 19 MayMay 2019 Ms Gawan was still making statements about the nomination. The "incomplete" assessment of course became public when the 2019 WHC papers were published in Jun 2019 - but since then - nothing.

9. One can see significant problems for such a nomination - a very high element of "Associative Value", loss of much of the historic fabric already, continuing development and a subject (Shipyard) which, apart from that associative value, isn't that special.

10. We really need someone with knowledge of the local politics to tell us more about the drivers behind this nomination.

I can actually provide some background, as I live in Gdynia but work in Gdansk (and I am Polish to boot :) ).

So actually it is more about politics then anything else, and on 2 levels, country-wide and local.

Country-wide
Both the ruling party and the main opposition party/ies have their roots in Solidarity movement, but instead of this being common ground, it is more like a source of competition ("we are true inheritors of Solidatrity, you are not", "you have sold the ideals of Solidarity", "you have not thought for freedom as much as the others" etc.).
Ms Gawin argument is that people tend to forget, and the inscription will make sure that in 20-30 years people worldwide will understand (and not start to mix everything up, like "the shipyard was named after V.I. Lenin, so those workers were all communists, right?"). Also, a jab at opposition, that they let a lot of buidlings be destroyed. Also also, the ruling party is very much into "grand gesture/ grand plan" sort of self-promotion.
Opposition argument is that the buildings to have historic value ("something happened there") are already under protection, on national registry. And a European Centre for Solidarity (a dedicated museum) was built. Also, actually majority of Imperial Shipyard was build by Germans (Kaiserliche Werft Danzig), a not so subtle jab at ruling party, which is perceived to be very-much pro-Polish, anti-everyone else. And besides as the owners of the land have already a right to develop as they see fit, the ministers should actually visit the place and talk to them. Which is tricky, as traditionally, Gdansk is a place with least support for current ruling party.

So we transistion to local matters ...
Locally the city administration is split. On the one hand, just before the local elections, anything and everything is promised (including inscriptions to WHS list, which always are not "Gdansk will try to be inscribed", but "Gdansk will be a WHS in 2 years"; also the case for Gdynia, where historic modernist architecture is planned/ hoped to be inscribed), and on the other hand, the city is very much perceived to be too amenable to property developers (some say way overboard). And those post-industrial sites are actually very good locations, and Gdansk is riding on a wave of development boom greater than anything in Poland. Anything and everything located at the general centre/ adjacent to sea appreciated 200% in 3 years, and new flats are being sold out (for hard cash, not mortgage credit) when they are still a whole in the ground. In short big money to be made, if somebody has any stake in those developments.

So there you go. And in the local news, nothing else really ...
Personally I would like to have parts protected & re-functioned, with anything new build to blend in seamlessly (if close), or being more-than-average inspiring (if further out). It is more about the events really, than the specific buildings, and I would treat those similarly to other post-industrial sites (docks in Liverpool and Hamburg, for example).

Developing news, the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea have determined that the OUV and the comparative analysis was lacking for the Gaya Tumuli nomination. This is an initial report, but I suspect some clarification/confirmation this week. This is surprising since all indicators seemed certain on the official nomination (Gaya Tumuli) being announced July 31st, but apparently the (CHA) did not view the entire nomination favorably, therefore it is suggested to delay the nomination by one year.

Could another nomination take the slot for 2021? The only possibilities would be Daegokcheon Stream Petroglyphs or Hanyangdoseong, the Seoul City Wall. However, the tight schedule might ultimately result in no Korean nomination for 2021.

http://www.jjan.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=2055541&replyAll=&reply_sc_order_by=I