CASTRIES,
St Lucia, Monday, July 2, 2012 – The St Lucia Pitons has escaped being added to
the World Heritage Danger List by the World Heritage Committee.
The
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, had recommended that
Pitons Management Area in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia, along
with Lake Turkana National Parks in Kenya, the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon,
and the Virgin Komi Forests in Russia, be added to the List of World Heritage
in Danger.
However,
the committee, meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, until July 6, has rejected
all four recommendations.
"We
are disappointed that the committee has not inscribed any of these threatened
sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger this year," said Tim Badman,
director of IUCN's World Heritage Programme.
"These
four sites face significant threats to their values, from threats including
major infrastructure projects, the extractive industry and property
speculation," said Badman.
According
to the IUCN, the Pitons Management Area in Saint Lucia has been subjected to
significant development since its inscription on the World Heritage List in
2004, and development threats risk irreversible loss of its outstanding
universal value.
Recognizable
for its two eroded remnants of lava domes rising from the sea to heights
greater than 700 meters, Pitons Management Area includes a geothermal field
with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. The forested spires contain eight
rare tree species. The larger one is inhabited by some 27 bird species, five of
them found nowhere else on Earth.
Coral
reefs cover almost 60 percent of the site's marine area, which is inhabited by
168 species of finfish.
Badman
said, "Inscription on the Danger List is not a black mark for countries,
but a way of drawing attention and providing support to the sites that need it
the most."
A
UNESCO agency, the World Heritage Committee identifies cultural and natural properties
of Outstanding Universal Value that are to be protected under the treaty
protecting World Cultural and Natural Heritage and inscribes those properties
on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The
World Heritage Fund provides about US$4 million annually to support activities
requested by governments in need of international assistance. The World
Heritage Committee allocates funds according to the urgency of requests,
priority being given to the most threatened sites.
The
committee is composed of representatives from 21 governments that are Parties
to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural
Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
At
the 2012 meeting they are: Algeria, Cambodia, Colombia, Estonia, Ethiopia,
France, Germany, India, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Qatar, Russia,
Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.
The
World Heritage List includes 951 properties forming part of the cultural and natural
heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers to have outstanding
universal value.
These
include 739 cultural sites, 183 natural sites and 29 mixed cultural-natural
properties in 155 countries. As of March 2012, 189 of the world's 193 governments
had ratified the World Heritage Convention.
SOURCE: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/st_lucia_news/593391.html
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