UNESCO adds three natural sites to its World Heritage List

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today announced its decision to inscribe three new natural sites in Madagascar, China and the Republic of Korea to its World Heritage List.

The World Heritage Committee is currently holding its annual meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, and today’s additions bring the number of properties on the List to 833.

In Madagascar, the Rainforests of the Atsinanana comprise six national parks on the African island nation’s eastern side. These forests are crucial for the survival of the country’s unique biodiversity. Given that the island separated from land masses over 60 million years ago, its plant and animal life has evolved in isolation. The inscription also notes the many threatened species – including at least 25 species of lemur – supported by the rainforests.

The South China Karst region encompasses over half a million square kilometers, and represents one of the most spectacular examples of humid tropical to sub-tropical karst, a type of terrain formed mainly by dissolving rock that usually features fissures, sinkholes, underground streams and caverns.

The stone forests of Shilin, part of the site, are internationally renowned, as well as the Naigu stone forest, which occurs on limestone, and the Suyishan stone forest arising from a lake. Shilin also contains a larger range of pinnacle shapes than other karst landscapes and also a wider variety of shapes and changing colours.

In the far south of the Republic Korea, the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes consist of three sites. They are Geomunoreum, considered the finest lava tube system of all caves with multi-coloured carbonate roofs and floors; the Seongsan Ilchulbong tuff cone, which emerges from the ocean; and Mount Hallasan, the country’s highest peak, with its waterfalls, multi-shaped rock formations and lake-filled crater.