We could also "just" show our own top 5's for the continents? Then you wouldn't even need voting.
I came to this:

Africa - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Benguela Current (N)
- South Luangwa NP (N)
- Sierra Leone's Gola National Parks (N)
- Zakouma NP (N)
- Laas Geel

Arab States - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Pharaonic Temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu
- Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi
- Lalish (holiest site of the Yazidis)
- Empty Quarter (transboundary, N)
- Dead Sea (N)

Asia and the Pacific - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Dzongs of Bhutan
- Mount Kailash (M)
- Band e Amir (N)
- City of Herat
- Meenakshi Temple in Madurai

Europe and North America - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Transsiberian Railway
- Svalbard (N)
- Chicago School of Architecture
- Baffin Island (N)
- Minoan palaces of Crete

Latin America and the Caribbean - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Huaca de la Luna en Huaca del Sol
- Chankillo Astronomical Complex
- Torres del Paine (N)
- Rupununi Savannah (N)
- Panama Canal

According to the new rules, here is my shortlist:

Africa - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Dallol, Erta Ale N
- Laas Gaal C
- Sacred Landscapes of Tigray C
- Sites mémoriaux du génocide : Nyamata, Murambi, Bisesero et Gisozi C
- Sudd wetland C-N

Arab States - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- 'Uruq Bani Mu'arid Protected Area N
- Jerash Archaeological City (Ancient Meeting Place of East and West) C
- Masjid al-Haram C
- Parc national de l'Ahaggar N
- Pharaonic temples in Upper Egypt from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods C

Asia and the Pacific - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Band-E-Amir N
- Dzongs: the centre of temporal and religious authorities (Punakha Dzong, Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, Paro Dzong, Trongsa Dzong and Dagana Dzong) C
- Ghats in Varanasi C
- Shwedagon Pagodaon Singuttara Hill C
- The Sublime Karsts of Papua New Guinea C-N

Europe and North America - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Chutes du Niagara N
- Early Chicago Skyscrapers C
- Minoan Palatial Centres (Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Kydonia) C
- Monument Valley C-N
- Zone d'exclusion de Tchernobyl C

Latin America and the Caribbean - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Buenos Aires – La Plata: Two capitals of the Culture of Modernity, Eclecticism and ImmigrationC
- Buritaca 200 - Ciudad Perdida - Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta C
- Canal de Panama C
- Mine de Naïca N
- Sacred Titicaca Lake / Lake Titicaca C-N

I don't think Arab states are overrepresented on the WHS list. I do think it is exaggerated to propose 5 candidates for Arab countries when Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Asia and the Pacific receive the same number each.
If we stick to Unesco's division I would divide the 25 possible proposals differently:

5 Africa
3 Arab States
6 Latin America
5 North America and Europe
6 Asia Pacific

I think this division better reflects the proportion between the number of countries as well as territory.

Els, your list is mostly comprised of the former top 50 sites. I would agree with winterkjm it would be interesting to see what different top 50 sites we could come up with. If we exclude the highest ranking 50 missing sites that have not been inscribed (up to 66), the list would be as follows:

Africa - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Laas Gaal
- Benin Iya / Sungbo' s Eredo
- Sumbrungu Painted Houses

Arab States - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Jebel Shams, Wadi Nakhur, and Wadi Ghul (N)
- Ensemble du site naturel de la région du Chouf avec les monuments et les sites (M)
- Taq-i-Kisra (Arch of Ctesiphon)
- Ebla (Tell Mardikh)
- Mount Gerizim: the holiest Samaritan site near Nablus

Asia and the Pacific - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Dilwara Temples at Mt Abu
- Concordia (N)
- Forests of Southern New Caledonia (N)
- Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad: Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs
- Cape York and the islands of the Torres Strait (N)

Europe and North America - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Hollywood Studios & Movie Palaces
- Modern Legacy of Vienna
- Palaces of Yalta
- Island of Inishmore (M)
- Salisbury Plains, Grytviken (N)

Latin America and the Caribbean - 5 selections (2 natural or mixed)
- Copper Canyon (N)
- Kuhikugu
- La Brea Pitch Lake (N)
- Taino Ceremonial site of Caguana
- Monte Verde

I think it is obvious that our new top 50 missing list will look different and is worthwhile pursuing. Moreover, as I said before, I think Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean should receive 6 choices each on the expense of two candidates from Arab countries.

Not sure we should limit the votes per region. Feels contrived and needlessly restricting.

Even if we do, North America and Europe should not be grouped into one category.

My proposal would be to start a survey in a first round. And then do sth like brackets? to figure out the ranking.

Yeah, let's do WHS brackets and then have a bracket per region!

Great idea to bring this back to the forefront, winterkjm!

I think what we are looking for right now is some structure. Nan's bracket idea is interesting, but I think we need to determine some factors beforehand:

1) Are we allowed to propose sites previously listed in the Top 50?
2) Are we allowed to propose sites that are currently on the Tentative World Heritage Site list?
3) Are we allowed to propose sites that will be up for review at a WHC meeting in the next three years?

Before we get to a bracket/Top 5/voting stage (however folks want to handle this), I wonder whether it may be helpful to start Top 50 Missing 2020 topics for each of the UNESCO regions: Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean. We could leave those topics open for a week or two (or however long deemed necessary) in order for folks to propose their recommended sites. Once the allotted time is over, then we might look at how we want to vote (for example, everyone selects their individual Top 5 for each region, then create Top 50 out of the sites that have the most votes overall across all the regions).

I don't think any of us will be able to go anywhere for the time being, so I don't mind if the process takes a few weeks.

North America in the UNESCO/WHC context is only 2 countries! So why would they need their own "continent"?

This always seemed more for organizational purposes than for consistency. Neither culture nor nature of North America and Europe share that much. Arab countries would be a better fit, seeing that the Mediterranean has been one culture area for millenia.

Personally, I would use football associations, then North and Middle America would be one.

Personally I think just sticking to UNESCO's groupings would be most understandable in this context even if the N America/ Europe combo is a little odd.

If not then was just going to suggest the same. Hopefully it is intuitive to most people, even if they aren't die hard football fans.
Perhaps with the minor amendments that the changes for political/ sporting reasons are reverted (Australia moves back to Oceania, Israel to Asia, French Guyana to South America, if anyone wants to move Kazakhstan to Asia feel free, It isn't a biggie for me and Baikanor will probably take a spot in Asia or Europe any way for me).

But I think the first task would be to address Colvins points
My answer to all those would be yes.

I like Colvin's Idea! And just I would make a clear distinctions between sites already on TList and those that are not.


My answers to his points would be:
1. I think yes, because some of them are not inscribed yet.
2. Yes, because we are talking about the missing sites, not inscribed yet.
3. Yes, because we never know what they will put into the list.

And also agree with:
And it is pretty difficult to choose just 5 of each region...

And here's my 5 for Arab States:
1. TL: Parc des Aurès avec les établissements oasiens des gorges du Rhoufi et d'El Kantara (2002) (Algeria) (Mix)
2. TL: Jerash Archaeological City (Ancient Meeting Place of East and West) (2004) (Jordan) (C)
3. * Rub al Khali – Empty Quarter (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen) (Mix)
4. TL: Archaeological site of Marib (2002) (Yemen) (C)
5. * Cisterns of Tawila, Aden (Yemen) (C)

* means 'not on TL'

And here's my 5 for Africa:
1. * Domes of Febedougou (Burkina Faso) (N)
2. TL: Le Lac Assal (2015) (Djibouti) (N)
3. TL: Benguela Current Marine Ecosystem Sites (2016) (Namibia) (Mix)
4. TL: Old Oyo (1995) (Nigeria), (C)
5. * Laas Geel (Somalia) (C)

* means 'not on TL'

Seeing none of us will do much travelling, we could spin the bracket idea a bit further by having match offs and each side getting a review by a community member. E.g.: Bryce Canyon vs Chicago Skyscrapers.

There are plenty of tools:
https://www.polltab.com/bracket-poll

Number would be a power of 2, 64 or 128. And the separation could be:
* Final: East (Africa, Asia, Oceania) vs West (Europe, America, Middle East)
** Half Final: Asia vs Africa/Oceania
** Half Final: Europe/Middle East vs Americas
** Quarter Final: North+Middle America vs South America
...

I think this could be fun.

Taking that bracket on a different tangent, perhaps we could use this time for a lighthearted "World Cup of World Heritage Sites" as well.

Not sure how famous Richard Osman is outside the UK but he regularly does them for various things, e.g World Cup of Chocolate Bars / Pets / Bands (my answers are Maltesers / Tortoise / Sigur Ros if you were interested :))

We could even have national/ regional qualifiers , what is the best WHS in Poland (Malbork?) in Central Europe (the answer is the Bauhaus of course) then they could have a play off against the best WHS in northern Europe.

We have time on our side at the moment.