UNESCO will deploy a team of experts to assess possible risks for the conservation of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam as it is worried about development projects that may threaten the heritage-listed tourist attraction, the U.N. agency told Reuters. The bay and the adjoining Cat Ba archipelago of limestone islets celebrates this year the 30th anniversary of inscription on the UNESCO world heritage list, being considered by the agency "the most extensive and best known example of marine-invaded tower karst." The UNESCO designation contributed to the site becoming a massive tourist destination, drawing millions of visitors every year and boosting Vietnam's revenue from tourism. However, the United Nations' education, scientific and cultural agency, in a statement attributed to its World...
Read MoreTag: world heritage
UN irks Australia by recommending that Great Barrier Reef be listed ‘in danger’
The Great Barrier Reef should be added to a list of World Heritage Sites that are “in danger”, a United Nations panel said on Tuesday, drawing an angry response from Australia, which called the recommendation politically motivated. Australia has lobbied furiously for years to stay off the endangered list as it could lead to the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem losing the U.N. heritage status, taking some of the shine off its attraction for tourists. Making its recommendation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee said action was needed to counter the effects of climate change as the prospects of the reef retaining that cherished status had deteriorated. Great Barrier Reef as seen from sky. Photo: Ko Hon Chiu Vincent At Aust...
Read MoreSouvenir shops are mostly closed and only a few tourists gaze at Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, a stark contrast from the hordes of visitors before the pandemic, but the board running Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished basilica hopes that will change soon. It will reopen from May 29 on weekend mornings after closing in October, hoping to benefit from the easing of coronavirus restrictions and expected tourism recovery in Spain, the world’s second-most visited country before the pandemic. An interior of the landmark Sagrada Familia basilica is seen, closed since October of last year, delaying its target of finishing construction by 2026, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Barcelona Spain, May 18, 2021. REUTERS/Nacho Doce The UNESCO World Heritage Site has been hit hard by th...
Read MoreUkraine eyes UNESCO World Heritage tag for abandoned plant and wasteland Ukrainian nuclear agency worker Viktor Kozlov received an unusual birthday gift from his wife Maryna: tickets for a 90 minute flight over Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. The trip gives passengers a bird's eye view of the abandoned buildings in the ghost town of Pripyat that once housed nuclear workers, and the massive domed structure now covering the reactor that exploded on April 26, 1986. On the flight, run by Ukraine International Airlines, passengers craned their necks, pointed and took pictures on their phones of the site that has become one of the country's major tourist destinations. An aerial view from a plane shows a New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure over the old sarcoph...
Read MoreResidents of a coastal township on Australia’s World Heritage-listed Fraser Island were told to evacuate on Sunday as a bushfire approached. Since it was sparked by an illegal campfire seven weeks ago, the blaze has blackened half the island off Australia’s north eastern coast, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef and famed for its tropical rainforest on sand dunes, and inland lakes. Residents of Happy Valley had a small reprieve after the blaze lessened in intensity on Sunday afternoon, Queensland state emergency services commissioner Greg Leach told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Aerial view of an area affected by a bushfire on Fraser Island (K'gari), Queensland, Australia December 5, 2020 in this picture obtained from social media. Save Fraser Islands Dingoes Inc ...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.