58 Railways of the Andes (added to Peru's Tentative List)

Since almost none of us are traveling and cancellations for travel are inevitable, why not start our Top Missing "2020" voting?

Would be a good idea indeed. But I must say my experiences this week with mandatory staying/working from home are that it still is very busy at work.

My proposals (150!):

AFGHANISTAN Band-E-Amir N
AFGHANISTAN Shrine of Hazrat Ali C
AFRIQUE DU SUD Parc national Kruger N
ALGERIE Parc national de l'Ahaggar N
ALLEMAGNE Centre historique de Munich C
ALLEMAGNE Dreams in Stone – the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee C
ALLEMAGNE Porte de Brandebourg C
ALLEMAGNE / AUTRICHE / BELGIQUE / FRANCE / ITALIE / ROYAUME-UNI DE GRANDE BRETAGNE ET D'IRLANDE DU NORD / TCHEQUIE Les grandes villes d'eaux d'Europe C
ALLEMAGNE / AUTRICHE / HONGRIE / SLOVAQUIE Les frontières de l'Empire romain – le limes du Danube C
ANDORRE Eglises romanes d'Andorre C
ANTARCTIQUE Vallées sèches de McMurdo N
ARABIE SAOUDITE 'Uruq Bani Mu'arid Protected Area N
ARABIE SAOUDITE Masjid al-Haram C
ARGENTINE Buenos Aires – La Plata: Two capitals of the Culture of Modernity, Eclecticism and Immigration C
AUSTRALIE Murujuga Cultural Landscape C
BAHAMAS Trou bleu de Dean N
BELGIQUE Atomium C
BELGIQUE / FRANCE Sites funéraires et mémoriels de la Première Guerre mondiale (Front Ouest) C
BHOUTAN Dzongs: the centre of temporal and religious authorities (Punakha Dzong, Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, Paro Dzong, Trongsa Dzong and Dagana Dzong) C
BOLIVIE Cal Orck'o: Footprints of time N
BOLIVIE Réserve nationale de faune andine Eduardo Avaroa N
BOLIVIE Salar d'Uyuni C
BOLIVIE / PEROU Sacred Titicaca Lake / Lake Titicaca C-N
BRESIL Centre historique de São Paulo C
BRESIL Maracanã C
BRESIL Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses – Lençóis Maranhenses National Park N
BRESIL Ver-o-Peso C
CAMBODGE Le site de Koh Ker C
CAMEROUN Pouss C
CANADA Quttinirpaaq C-N
CANADA / ETATS-UNIS Chutes du Niagara N
CHILI Île Madre de Dios N
CHILI Juan Fernández Archipelago National Park N
CHILI Torres del Paine and Bernardo O'Higgins National Parks, Region of Magallanes N
CHINE Centre historique de Hong Kong C
CHINE Centre historique de Shanghai C
CHINE Juyongguan (extension) C
CHINE Kailash C-N
CHYPRE Centre historique de Nicosie C
COLOMBIE Buritaca 200 - Ciudad Perdida - Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta C
DJIBOUTI Le Lac Assal N
EGYPTE Alexandria, ancient remains and the new library C
EGYPTE Canal de Suez C
EGYPTE Pharaonic temples in Upper Egypt from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods C
EGYPTE Ras Mohammed N
ESPAGNE Campo de Criptana C
ESPAGNE Las Ventas C
ESPAGNE The Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE California Current Conservation Complex C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Crater Lake N
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Devils Tower National Monument C-N
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Disneyland C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Early Chicago Skyscrapers C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Empire State Building C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Golden Gate Bridge C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Hollywood C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Marianas Trench Marine National Monument N
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Mémorial du 11 Septembre C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Meteor Crater N
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Mont Rushmore C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Monument Valley C-N
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Parc national de Bryce Canyon C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Parc national des Arches C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Petrified Forest National Park N
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Vieux carré français de La Nouvelle-Orléans C
ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE Washington (district de Columbia) C
ETHIOPIE Dallol, Erta Ale N
ETHIOPIE Sacred Landscapes of Tigray C
FEDERATION DE RUSSIE Perm-36 C
FEDERATION DE RUSSIE Por-Bazhyn C
FINLANDE Paimio Hospital (formerly Paimio Sanatorium) C
FRANCE Aires volcaniques et forestières de la Martinique N
FRANCE Arsenal de Rochefort et fortifications de l'estuaire de la Charente C
FRANCE Cathédrale de Saint-Denis C
FRANCE Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte C
FRANCE Citadelle de Lille (extension) C
FRANCE Giverny C
FRANCE Les Iles Marquises C-N
FRANCE Massif du Mont Blanc C-N
FRANCE Phare de Cordouan C
FRANCE Sites mégalithiques de Carnac C
GABON Parc national d'Ivindo N
GRECE Minoan Palatial Centres (Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Kydonia) C
GRECE Santorin C-N
GUATEMALA Protected area of Lake Atitlán: multiple use N
GUINEE-BISSAU Réserve de Biosphère de l'Archipel des Bijagos N
GUYANA Parc national de Kaieteur N
INDE Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh C
INDE Ghats in Varanasi C
INDE Mughal Gardens in Kashmir C
INDE Sri Harimandir Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab C
INDE The Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Charminar C
INDONESIE Besakih C
INDONESIE Kelimutu N
INDONESIE Marine Mega-Diversity Heritage of Indonesia N
INDONESIE Tana Toraja Traditional Settlement C
IRAQ Old City of Mosul C
IRLANDE The Monastic City of Clonmacnoise and its Cultural Landscape C
IRLANDE The Royal Sites of Ireland: Cashel, Dún Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex, and Tara Complex C
ISRAEL Degania & Nahalal C
ISRAEL Porte aux trois arches de Dan C
ITALIE Vésuve (extension) N
JAMAIQUE The Underwater City of Port Royal C
JAPON Palais impérial de Tokyo C
JORDANIE Jerash Archaeological City (Ancient Meeting Place of East and West) C
KAZAKHSTAN Réserve naturelle d'Ustyurt N
KENYA The African Great Rift Valley - The Maasai Mara C-N
MALDIVES Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives C
MAROC Casablanca, Ville du XXème siècle, carrefour d'influences C
MAURITANIE Structure de Richat N
MEXIQUE Bonampak C
MEXIQUE Mexcaltitán C
MEXIQUE Mine de Naïca N
MEXIQUE Ring of cenotes of Chicxulub Crater, Yucatan N
MEXIQUE Tula C
MICRONESIE (ETATS FEDERES DE) / PALAOS Yapese Disk Money Regional Sites / Yapease Quarry Sites C
MONGOLIE Cretaceous Dinosaur Fossil Sites in the Mongolian Gobi N
MYANMAR Ancient cities of Upper Myanmar: Innwa, Amarapura, Sagaing, Mingun, Mandalay C
MYANMAR Inle Lake C
MYANMAR Myeik Archipelago N
MYANMAR Rocher d'Or C
MYANMAR Shwedagon Pagodaon Singuttara Hill C
NAMIBIE Etosha Pan N
NEPAL Medieval Earthern Walled City of Lo Manthang C
NORVEGE Islands of Jan Mayen and Bouvet as parts of a serial transnational nomination of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge system N
NORVEGE Lysefjord (extension) N
NORVEGE Stavkirke de Borgund, Stavkirke de Heddal (extension) C
NORVEGE Svalbard Archipelago C-N
NORVEGE The Lofoten islands C-N
PALESTINE Ancient Jericho: Tell es-Sultan C
PANAMA Canal de Panama C
PAPOUASIE-NOUVELLE-GUINEE The Sublime Karsts of Papua New Guinea C-N
PEROU Archaeological Complex of Pachacamac C
PEROU Peruvian Central Railway C
PEROU Salt Mines of Maras C
PHILIPPINES Chocolate Hills Natural Monument N
REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO Hôpital de Panzi C
ROUMANIE Mines d'or romaines de Roșia Montană C
ROYAUME-UNI DE GRANDE-BRETAGNE ET D'IRLANDE DU NORD Château de Windsor, Palais de Buckingham C
ROYAUME-UNI DE GRANDE-BRETAGNE ET D'IRLANDE DU NORD Great Glen N
ROYAUME-UNI DE GRANDE-BRETAGNE ET D'IRLANDE DU NORD Oxbridge C
RWANDA Sites mémoriaux du génocide : Nyamata, Murambi, Bisesero et Gisozi C
SOMALIE Laas Gaal C
SOUDAN Suakin C
SOUDAN DU SUD Sudd wetland C-N
SUEDE Gamla stan C
SUISSE Cervin N
THAILANDE Wat Phra Kaeo (Bangkok) C
TUNISIE Habitat troglodytique et le monde des ksour du Sud tunisien C
UKRAINE Zone d'exclusion de Tchernobyl C

Not sure why you opted for French... My two cents. Also, several are due pretty soon, so not sure it makes that much sense to discuss them.

Agree:

Disagree:

My sites (partially mentioned before):

Chile - Volcanoes of Chile (N)
Chile - Island of Chiloe (M), possibly extension
China - Colonial Shanghai
China - XIan Imperial City
Germany - Islands of the Wadden Sea (M), possibly extension
Ireland - Aran Islands (M)
Italy - Bobbio
Japan - Japanese Gardens (Kanawara) (C)
New Zealand - Maori Settlements and Volcanic Landscape (Rotorua) (M)
Peru - Sacred Valley (C)
Russia - Subways of Moscow
Sweden - Skerry Islands of Sweden (East and West)
UK - Hebrides Islands (M)
UK/Ireland - Historic Pubs
UK - Highlands (N)
UK - History of Football
UK - Royal Golf Club at St Andrews
USA - Art Deco Miami
USA - Art Deco Skyscrapers of NYC
USA - Okefenokee NP (N)

Shouldn't we start with discussing how we would like to go about choosing the top missing 2020 sites?
How many can each of us choose? How many can we propose? Should we focus on new sites, not proposed for the last list? Should we focus on existing TWHS? Should we consider missing categories and balance in the list or just propose what we personally find most significant/appealing? How long should the list become? How should the sites be presented for later discussions? I think it is important to answer these questions first to help us concentrate our efforts.

Last time we voted for our top 20 missing sites. I would prefer a similar format, but with a couple tweaks to diversify / improve our Top Missing sites. I would expand the selection to 25 missing sites (per user) and limits based on region. For example, 5 per region in order to really identify those outstanding sites throughout the globe that perhaps could better highlight worthy sites, which are relatively obscure even in our community.

Africa - 5 selections
Arab States - 5 selections
Asia and the Pacific - 5 selections
Europe and North America - 5 selections
Latin America and the Caribbean - 5 selections

In addition, the 2014 Top missing list numbers 117. I would propose making a decision first. Should we automatically transfer the Top 50 remaining (not yet inscribed) sites from that list (below)? All 117? Or do we just revote with all potential sites on the table + new proposals? For the 2020 version any sites between 66 - 117 could be submitted again by our community in their selections (if this suites you), this does however mean they would not automatically be included in the new list. For example, Laas Gaal (#77) would have to be voted in to be included. These are all options, but for me personally there would be greater excitement for me if voters have a fairly "clean slate" and don't have to use their votes (again) on "Shwedagon Pagoda", "Svalbard", or "Lake Titicaca" when there is fairly wide agreement on their OUV.

2 Historic University Towns of Oxford and Cambridge (UK)
5 Minoan palaces of Crete (Greece)
6 Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany)
7 Varanasi (India)
8 Cultural Landscape of Santorini (Greece)
9 Mecca, Kaaba (Saudi Arabia)
11 Lake Titicaca (Peru, Bolivia)
12 Dzongs of Bhutan (Bhutan)
13 Shwedagon Pagoda (Myanmar)
14 Amritsar (India)
15 Panama Canal (Panama)
17 Transiberian Railway (Russia)
19 Alexandria, ancient remains and the new library (Egypt)
20 Pharaonic Temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu (Egypt)
22 Death Valley National Park (USA)
23 Scrovegni's Chapel (Italy)
24 Suez Canal (Egypt)
25 Torres del Paine National Park (Chile)
26 The Soviet Architecture of Moscow (Russia)
27 Svalbard (Norway)
28 Golden Gate Bridge (USA)
30 Jericho (Palestine)
31 Sites Mégalithiques de Carnac (France)
33 Cenotes of the Yucatan (Mexico)
34 Mount Rushmore (USA)
35 Chernobyl (Ukraine)
37 Petrified Forest National Park (USA)
38 Naica Cave: Cave of the Crystals (Mexico)
39 Atacama Desert (Chile)
40 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Frank Gehry (Spain)
41 Baikonur Cosmodrome / Cape Canaveral (Russia, USA)
42 Tana Toraja Cultural Landscape (Indonesia)
44 Mt Kailash (China)
46 City of Herat (Afghanistan)
47 Great Gobi Desert (Mongolia)
48 Klondike and the Gold Rush Trails (Canada, USA)
49 Westhoek: places of memory and monuments of the Great War (France, Belgium)
52 Marine Reserves of Sinai (Egypt)
53 Rainforests of Polynesia (transnational - multiple Pacific Island nations)
55 Chicago School of Architecture (USA)
56 Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol (Peru)
57 Fortified City of Famagusta (Cyprus)
58 Railways of the Andes (Peru)
59 Tower of Silence (Iran)
60 Ciudad Perdida, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Columbia)
61 Middle and Upper Sepik (Papua New Guinea)
62 Andaman Islands (Myanmar)
63 Wooden Monasteries of Konbaung Period (Myanmar)
64 Ross Island (claimed by New Zealand)
65 Kaieteur National Park, Iwokrama Forest and the Kanuku Mountains (Guyana)

Just some proposals and ideas I wanted to share. What do all of you think?

I agree with winterkjm's proposals in general, but would suggest some adjustments.
I think dividing the choice into regions is a good idea, but in the proposed way Arab states would be overrepresented. Moreover, I wouldn't just drop North America and Europe into one region (as Unesco does). Maybe 4 Africa, 3 Arab states, 5 Latin America, 3 North America, 3 Europe, 5 Asia, 2 Pacific?
I agree it is a good idea to take off the list of candidates the 50 top missing ones from last time that were not inscribed.
Lastly, what about the natural-cultural proportion in our list of missing sites? I think we as a community all similarly tend towards the cultural, similar to Unesco. Should we say that at least 25% or even 30% of our final list of missing sites should be comprised of (the best proposed) natural sites, so that the best natural choices get promoted over lesser cultural sites?

What proportion of sites on the existing tentative lists and what proportion of sites snubbed and therefore absent from the tentative lists?

I would like to open a discussion on two regions: South America and the Pacific.

South America:

The strongest candidates in South America would probably be its natural sites on the one hand and its Precolumbian sites on the other hand.
Among the strongest natural candidates are: Atacama desert (Chile), Guano Islands (Peru), Kaieteur (Guyana), O'Higgins and El Paine (Chile), Sierra del Divisor (Brazil-Peru), other Brazilian natural sites (Canyon du Rio Peruaco, Serra da Bocaina, Anavilhanas, Pico da Neblina). All of these are on TWHS. I would also add some site from Tierra del Fuego (Argentina-Chile).
Precolumbian sites: Chachapoyas sites, Tucume (La Leche), Huacas de la Luna y del Sol (Mochica), Titicaca, Marcahuamachuco, the entire Sacred Valley (all Peru), Ciudad Perdida (Colombia), Kuhikugu (Brazil) and geoglyphs of Acre (Brazil), maybe stilt houses of Santa Marta (Colombia) or Chiloe (Chile).

Pacific:

From the pacific the most important candidates would probably be, akin to South America, its indigenous cultures and the natural sites.
Natural sites: New Caledonian rainforests, Polynesian rainforests (for example, Tahiti, Fiji and Samoa), volcanos of Vanuatu, Cape York (Australia), Teluk Cenderawasih National Park (West Papua, Indonesia), some sites from PNG (Kokoda and Stanley, Kikori, Upper Seppik)
Indigenous cultures: money discs sites (Yap, Palau), Murujuga (Australia), vernacular architecture (PNG, but also Polynesia)

I certainly would not have a problem with this, I just think it's important to provide structure that encourages a diverse selection of candidates. The regional imbalance and natural/cultural imbalance can be addressed structurally, which ultimately makes this whole process more engaging and informative. We can dream the state parties, advisory bodies, and the world heritage committee eventually nominate and inscribe a list like our future Top Missing List. I for one certainly enjoyed seeing some of our original 'Top Missing' sites being inscribed.




Are the Arab States really over-represented? Egypt? Libya? Algeria? Mauritania? Sudan? Lebanon? Morocco + Western Sahara? Yemen? Oman? Kuwait? Does anyone know if Somalia would classify under Africa or Arab States?

As far as cultural and natural site balance. A minimum per region for natural/mixed nominations would support a more balanced "Top Missing" List from our community. All of these suggested alterations to our original selection process would decrease the effect of biases we all have toward specific regions and national pride. Note, the natural/mixed quota would be set at a minimum of 2 per region, but with the option to select more than 2.

Africa - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
Arab States - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
Asia and the Pacific - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
Europe and North America - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
Latin America and the Caribbean - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)

Or under Assif's proposal of the 25 choices make it flexible, for example 5-10 (minimum of 20% to 40% of nominations are natural/mixed)

4 Africa
3 Arab States
5 Latin America
3 North America
3 Europe
5 Asia
2 Pacific

*Note: The remaining (not-inscribed) Top 50 Missing List is 40% Europe and North America and 0% Africa.

I'd like to keep following the WHC division in "continents" (like this one above) - it will lead to less European proposals anyway. Otherwise we will start bickering which country belongs in which group, which detracts from the real point of this excercise.

What do you think about the proposal process (before the actual voting)? Do we have limits per user or no limits? Can proposals be made just by naming a site or should the expectation be to provide info (name, country, short description, criteria, OUV & Comparative sites)? Do proposals need to be given a "second" by another user to be included in the final voting? Once we get these issues in order we can really get the conversation going!