Blue, John Crow Mtns nominated for UN World Heritage List

CMC

Saturday, May 07, 2011

UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — Jamaica has proposed the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park for inscription on the UN World Heritage List.

Jamaica and Barbados are among more 45 countries that have been nominated for inscription this year on the World Heritage List run by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

A UN statement said that Caricom countries as well as Micronesia, Palau, the Republic of Congo and the United Arab Emirates, which have never had a site on the World Heritage List, have nominated sites this year.

Barbados has nominated the city of Bridgetown and its Garrison.

Micronesia and Palau have made a joint nomination for the Yapese Stone Money sites, while the Republic of Congo has joined with neighbouring Cameroon and the Central African Republic to propose the Trinational Sangha, UNESCO said.

It said other natural and/or cultural properties have been nominated by Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.

UNESCO said the number of properties already on the World Heritage List, which recognises sites for their 'outstanding universal value,' is 911.

The agency's 21-member World Heritage Committee will decide which of the 42 nominated sites to include on the list when it meets in Paris from June 19-29.

The committee will also examine the state of conservation of 34 sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger, it said.

The UN said sites are proposed by states parties to the World Heritage Convention and then the applications are reviewed by either the International Council on Monuments and Sites or the International Union for Conservation of Nature.