Five new World Heritage sites announced
by Tom Walker | 27 Jun 2011
Wadi Rum in Jorand - one of the five new World Heritage Sites
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has named five new locations in Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Italy and Germany as World Heritage sites.
The five new sites are the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia; the archaeological sites of the Island of Meroe in Sudan; Wadi Rum Protected Area in Jordan; seven groups of buildings belonging to the Germanic Lombards tribe throughout Italy; and the Eduard Werner-designed Fagus Factory in Alfeld, Germany.
More sites are set to be added onto the list this week, as a total of 35 nominations are being reviewed by the Unesco committee. The committee is holding its 35th World Heritage Convention (WHC) session at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and the session will end on 29 June.
The news was welcomed by country delegates and state officials - including Jordan's Queen Rania who expressed her excitement by tweeting to her followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter: "So proud Wadi Rum has join Unesco World Heritage List! That tallies Jordan's total of World Heritage sites to 4!"
Unesco's announcement was made amid the intensification of a row surrounding a disputed World Heritage site on the border between Cambodia and Thailand intensified.
Thailand withdrew from the WHC on Sunday after its neighbouring country Cambodia prepared to present its own management plans for the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple to the convention. Both Cambodia and Thailand claim that the temple is within their borders.
The temple and its surround area saw violent clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops earlier this year, forcing UNESCO director general Irina Bokova to send a special envoy to both countries with the message that "heritage should serve not for conflict but as a tool for dialogue and reconciliation".
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has named five new locations in Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Italy and Germany as World Heritage sites. The five new sites are the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia; the archaeological sites of the Island of Meroe in Sudan; Wadi Rum Protected Area in Jordan; seven groups of buildings belonging to the Germanic Lombards tribe throughout Italy; and the Eduard Werner-designed Fagus Factory
HAM,TOU,VAT
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