World Heritage List

Next week the UN World Heritage Committee is meeting to consider 37 sites for inclusion on their list for conservation. They haven't published (or I can't find) the full list, but included in the natural or mixed natural/cultural sites are rainforests in Madagascar and Gabon.

Last year the sites which were added to the list included:

• Harar Jugol in Ethiopia
• The stone circles of Senegambia in both Gambia and Senegal
• The Chongoni rock art area in Malawi
• Aapravasi Ghat in Mauritius
• Kondoa rock art sites in Tanzania

Some of these sites date from thousands of years ago. The cultural past of Africa is often forgotten, and indeed the natural history too. According to Unesco, the importance of endemic fish species in Lake Malawi for the study of evolution is comparable to that of finch species in the Galapagos Islands. Today was the first time I found mention of that even though it was 1984 when Lake Malawi was added.

The list of new sites added in 2006 can be found on the Unesco site, as can the full list of sites.