25 new sites added to the World Heritage list, including two in France

The new French sites

Causses et Cévennes, a Mediterranean agropastoral cultural landscape

Flickr CC : mpix46  

The site covers 302,319 hectares in the south of the French Central Massif, constituting a landscape of mountains crisscrossed by deep valleys and representative of the relationship that exists between agropastoral systems and their biophysical environment, in particular with regard to its “drailles” or transhumance routes. The villages and large stone farmhouses standing on the deep terraces of the Causses bear witness to the organisation imposed by the great abbeys from the 11^th century onwards. Mount Lozère, which is part of the site, is one of the last places where summer transhumance is still practised. 

On the web:

• www.causses-et-cevennes.com
• P age on the World Heritage Centre website

Prehistoric palafittic sites around the Alps (Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland)

Kehrsiten (Suisse) / Flickr CC : Darkroom Daze  

This multiple asset comprises 111 sites in and around the Alps containing the remains of prehistoric palafittic (i.e. on stilts) dwellings. Dating back to around 5000 to 500 BC, they are located on lakeshores, riverbanks and the edges of marshland. Only a few have been excavated, but those that have been have provided clues that give us a glimpse of what daily life must have been like in Alpine Europe during the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age, as well as yielding information on the way in which communities interacted with their environment. 

On the web:

• P age on the World Heritage Centre website

Other matters arising during the 2011 session

Following the unfavourable opinion rendered by ICOMOS, France decided to postpone candidacy of Le Corbusier’s architectural and urban oeuvre until a later sitting of the World Heritage Committee. This particular asset is transnational and, alongside France, concerns Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Japan and Switzerland. 

The Committee requested the French State to suspend projects for installation of wind farms in Saint Michael’s Mount bay until the impact that such projects would have on the value of this exceptional listed site has been assessed. UNESCO should be sending a team of experts to carry out such an assessment. 

Thai Minister Suwit Khunkitti announced Thailand’s intention to denounce the World Heritage Convention following differences over the listed Preah Vihear Temple site, which is currently threatened by tensions between Thailand and Cambodia. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, expressed her deep regret and encouraged the two countries to use the Convention as a tool for dialogue, conservation of world heritage, and sustainable development. 

On this website:

• Committee members visiting Val de Loire

On the web:

• Twenty-five new sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, bringing the number to 936 (UNESCO – World Heritage Centre)
• Press release by the President of the Association of Le Corbusier Sites regarding the World Heritage Committee’s decision on Le Corbusier’s architectural oeuvre (French Association of Le Corbusier sites)
• UNESCO Director-General regrets the announcement of Thailand's intention to denounce the 1972 World Heritage Convention (UNESCO – World Heritage Centre)