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  • The Unesco Process

    THE UNESCO PROCESS

    Bangkok Post Wednesday July 02, 2008 Thailand

    Montreal - The annual scramble for world heritage status opens
    on Wednesday evening in Quebec City, where Cambodia and 40 other
    countries are seeking the high-profile designation from Unesco for
    cultural or natural sites.

    The Cambodian application is perhaps the most political. But among
    applicants are five countries seeking their first sites on the Unesco
    list - Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino and
    Vanuatu.

    Among Eastern European countries, Albania, Croatia, Czech Republic,
    Bulgaria, the Russian Federation and Slovakia are applying for
    recognition of special sites, and Hungary and Slovakia have a joint
    application for designation of a network of fortifications where the
    Danube and Vah rivers converge in Komarno.

    In the Middle East, applicants include Yemen for its Socotra
    Archipelago; Saudi Arabia for archaeological site al-Hijr; Iran for
    the Armenian monastic ensembles in its Azerbaijan province; and Israel
    for the triple-arch gate at Dan and the Bahai holy places in Haifa
    and western Galilee.

    The World Heritage Committee is chaired this year by Canada, which
    planned the meetings. They conclude on July 10, and coincide with
    the kickoff of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations as one of
    North America's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Those festivities
    begin Thursday.

    Unesco's World Heritage list currently includes 851 properties of
    "outstanding universal value," including 660 cultural, 166 natural
    and 25 mixed properties in 141 countries.

    At least 30 are on an endangered list, meaning they either need
    special attention to preserve them or have risked being delisted
    because conservators have failed either to take proper care of the
    sites or to comply with Unesco rules.

    Among those on the endangered list is one of Germany's most historic
    and scenic areas of 18th and 19th century significance, the Dresden
    Elbe Valley.

    German authorities had decided to build a bridge in the heart of
    the well-known landscape against the advice of Unesco, which urged
    a tunnel. Warnings were issued about the site's status in 2006 after
    the decision to build the bridge was taken.

    No site has ever been delisted from the programme, but the issue is
    on the agenda for this year, Unesco said in a press release.

    Cambodia is seeking designation for its millennium-old temple, Preah
    Vihear, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

    In a compromise in May, Cambodia agreed to redraw the inscription
    map, including only the temple, but the move would limit Unesco's
    say over how Preah Vihear would be preserved, officials in Cambodia
    and Thailand said.

    And Thailand has been enjoined by a court decision on Monday that it
    must refrain from direct support for the Cambodian application. (dpa)
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