UNESCO Adds 26 New Sites to World Heritage List

In the press release for this year’s council, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay emphasized the importance of these inscriptions, “For the new sites inscribed this year, this notoriety comes with a great responsibility: that of keeping alive, protecting and promoting this exceptional heritage.” UNESCO's World Heritage List is now made up of 1,248 sites from 170 countries.

In order to be considered for the official list, the site needs to have been nominated by its home country, be of outstanding cultural value, and meet at least one out of ten defined criteria. This selection criteria ranges from “representing a masterpiece of human creative genius” to “representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals,” according to UNESCO's website.

Similar to last year, African culture played a significant role in this 47th session. Four out of the 26 new properties were African sites, making the continent’s total number now 112. These four sites included the Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains; Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagós Archipelago – Omatí Minhô; the mountain range of southern Malawi; and the Gola-Tiwai Complex of Sierra Leone. One of the approved expansions was that of a 1,545-square-mile natural park, running from South Africa to Mozambique. (The other was the connection between Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park to Laos’ Hin Nam No National Park.) 

Since 2020, over $34 million has been collected to support African heritage. Azoulay shared in a statement, “Making Africa a priority is not a symbolic gesture. It's a concrete, day-to-day and long-term commitment, driven by the idea that the continent must be recognized for its historical, cultural and natural importance. With 19 new sites inscribed and six jewels saved from danger since my arrival at UNESCO, I am proud to see this continent take its rightful place among the world's heritage."

Outside of the African inscriptions, many of the others are linked to prehistory. These include the Peruaçu River Canyon in Brazil; the Megaliths of Carnac and of the shores of the Morbihan in France; and the Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream in the Republic of Korea. Regardless of the country of origin, this year’s Committee held a strong focus on sites both nominated and deeply supported by their surrounding communities, further emphasizing UNESCO’s mission to advocate for community involvement in cultural and historical preservation efforts.