10 Potential Nominations from Saudi Arabia

- Rock Arts in Be'er Huma
- Alfao Village in Riyadh
- Al-Ahsa Oasis
- Haj Road for Egyptians
- Alshami Haj Road
- Darb Zubaydah
- Hejaz Railway
- Al-Der'e District in Jandal
- Zee Ain Village in Baha
- Rijal Almaa Heritage Village in Asir

http://www.arabnews.com/travel/news/660821

Not surprising that Mecca isn't included in these nominations...

http://time.com/3584585/saudi-arabia-bulldozes-over-its-heritage/

Two remarks concerning the new candidates:

1) All Haj roads including the Alshami (Jordanian) and Egyptian ones terminate in Mecca. How would that be affected by the current trend of destroying historic monuments in Mecca is an interesting question.

2) The Hejaz Railway from Turkey to SA and passing through Israel has been proposed as a transnational serial nomination before. I am curious as to whether this nomination is indeed planned as such. It would certainly not involve Israel!

These are the identified countries that we can reasonably expect some form of action being taken on their tentative list in 2014-2015. It will be interesting to see what actually is submitted to UNESCO.

The main line of the Hejaz Railway seems to have run from Damascus to the Hejaz via Amman, with the line to Haifa as a secondary line. Thus they could construct a serial site involving only Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, if they wanted.

I would think that (politics aside) the haifa branch OF the Hejaz railway would very much be ragarded as part of that railway. In fact it was competed first as a means of supplying the construction materials for the line to Medina. It was to the same narrow gauge as the rest and was seen by the Ottomans as the Mediterranean entry point to the line.
A very small part of the hejaz railway at Madain Saleh is already inscribed - a shed and some locos and sidings.
The station in Damascus is VERY fine and was still operating as a station for damascus when we visited Syria 14 years ago. Wiki says it was closed to convert to a hotel but, as those plans predated the current troubles who knows what will happen
Israel is currently building a New modern line into Haifa along at least some of the same route as we saw when we were there 1 year ago. Full size track this time.
Haifa owes some of its growth in the early 20th C to the existance of the line which emphasised its superiority as a port to Acre

Does anyone know about the current plan for Canada's Tentative list? The only timeline I have come across is around 2014-2015, about 10 total additional nominations.

Wells Gray Provincial Park is one of many candidates seeking to be included on the updated tentative list. Another is Steveston, a fishing village near Vancouver.

http://www.waysofenlichenment.net/public/pdfs/Crawford_2011_World_Heritage_Site_appli cation.pdf

http://www.richmond-news.com/news/unesco-bid-long-costly-but-worthy-1.980631

Malaysia hoping to gazette two new World Heritage sites:

1) The Royal Belum State Park (this site has been mentioned many times even as a potential transboundary site with Thailand.

2) Leaning Tower in Teluk Intan, this 1885 tower, really no idea what is its OUV?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Teluk_Intan

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/12/21/msia-hoping-to-gazette-tw o-new-world-heritage-sites/

Thailand : Andaman Sea to be listed as World Heritage Site

From the news it seem that this nomination will be a possible transnational site with Myanmar.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNECO5712180010008

http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNEVN5712290010003

The nomination is quite impressive as the area will include world famous Phi Phi Island, some area in Phuket, Phang-nga Bay, Similan and Surin Islands and once rejected Tarutao Island, and interesting sea gypsy culture.

It is quite interesting that there are many active proposals for natural WHS in Malay Peninsular - Malaysia's Taman Negara and Belum, Thailand's Kreng Krachan and Andaman, Myanmar's Taninthayi and Mergui Archipelago.

Bulgaria : Magurata Cave

http://www.novinite.com/articles/165936/Bulgaria+Nominates+Magurata+Cave+to+UNESCO%E2 %80%99s+World+Heritage+List

Angola's first WHS? : Ruin of M'banza Kongo

http://allafrica.com/stories/201501100097.html

Does anyone know which tentative sites have been removed?

Almost no activity on any Tentative List since Fall 2014.

In the last 2 years there has been a total of about 140 new nominations. Updates primarily from China, India, Greece, Turkey make up about half of those nominations.

Malaysia REMOVED

Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary (LEWS) and Batang Ai National Park (BANP)

so the idea of "Transborder Rainforest Heritage of Borneo" between Malaysia and Indonesia is canceled?