World Heritage Committee to meet in Quebec to inscribe new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List when it meets for its 32nd session in Québec, Canada, from 2 to 10 July 2008

June 22nd 2008 - During this year's session, hosted by Canada to coincide with the 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Québec City, 41 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will present properties for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Among them are five countries that have no sites inscribed on the List: Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu.

The Committee will also review the state of conservation of the 30 World Heritage sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger and may decide to add new sites to that list of properties whose preservation requires special attention. The List in Danger features sites which are threatened by a variety of problems such as natural disasters, pillaging, pollution, and poorly managed mass tourism, that may have a negative impact on the universal values for which they were inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Among sites on the List in Danger, the cultural landscape of Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley will come under particular scrutiny. In keeping with the decision it took at its last meeting, the Committee will decide whether to keep the property on the World Heritage List or whether the building of a bridge in the heart of the landscape warrants its deletion from the List.

The properties submitted by States Parties for inscription on the World Heritage List number 13 natural and 34 cultural sites (see list below), including two transboundary sites, and five extensions to properties already listed.

Cultural properties submitted for inscription to the World Heritage List: Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra – Towns of southern Albania, exceptional testimonies of well-preserved Ottoman settlements in the Balkan region, an extension (Albania), Cultural Landscape of Buenos Aires (Argentina), São Francisco Square in the city of São Cristóvão (Brazil), The Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia), Fujian Tulou (China), The Stari Grad Plain (Croatia), Urban Historic Scenary Camagüey (Cuba), Spa of Luhacovice – area with a collection of historic spa buildings and spa-related facilities (Czech Republic), Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), The work of Vauban (France), Housing Estates in the Berlin Modern Style (Germany), System of Fortification at the Confluence of the Rivers Danube and Váh in Komárno – Komárom (Hungary / Slovakia), Mountain Railways of India (serial extension to include Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR)) (India), River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra River in Assam (India), Cultural Landscape of Bali Province (Indonesia), The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iranian Azarbayjan ((Islamic Republic of Iran), The Triple-arch Gate at Dan (Israel), Bahá'i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee (Israel), Mantua and Sabbioneta (Italy), Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology (Japan), Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests (Kenya), Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain (Kyrgyzstan), Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca: Melaka and George Town (Malaysia), Le Morne Cultural Landscape (Mauritius), Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco (Mexico), León Cathedral (Nicaragua), The Kuk Early Agricultural Site (Papua New Guinea), San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano (San Marino), Al-Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih) (Saudi Arabia), Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area (Slovakia), Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (extension to Altamira Cave) (Spain), Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape (Switzerland / Italy), The Antonine Wall (extension to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire) (United Kingdom), Chief Roi Mata's Domain (Vanuatu).