Eight new natural wonders have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Read about them, and view a fabulous slideshow, at ForbesTravel.com. Here’s a snippet from the article:
Native Australian David Sheppard summons the oft-quoted backpacker’s mantra, “take only photographs, leave only footprints,” as he reflects on the fragility—and relatively newfound fame—of the eight natural wonders recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. “Natural World Heritage sites represent the best of what nature has to offer,” says Sheppard, Head of the Protected Areas Program for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the organization which recommended the sites.
Being added to the World Heritage List of 174 natural sites is, in a sense, a Catch-22: global recognition will inevitably draw curious visitors just as it has to Yellowstone, Kilimanjaro, the Galapagos, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. And yet ultimately, it is the encroaching world of human development that the UNESCO designation is meant to guard against.
The nearly 900 UNESCO World Heritage Sites are discussed in detail at the official UNESCO website.
How many UNESCO World Heritage sites have you visited? Give us details!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi John,
Am fortunate enough to have visited the natural World Heritage Site of Yakushima, Japan several times. Also, to live close to Redwood National Park, World Natural Heritage Site. That list of sites is the best guide one could have for seeing much of the best of nature and historical locations. Now have it on my list of favorite web sites. Thanks. Ronald Thompson Crescent C. CA.
Twitter: @TheJohnSoares
Yes, it’s a great site and great place to develop your travel wish list.
I’m hoping to do some traveling outside North America in 2009.