National park named Unesco world heritage site 02/07/2007 00:00

2 July 2007

MANILA - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee added 22 new sites to the World Heritage List, including a national park in Spain and a university campus in Mexico.

The panel, which is an institution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, updated the list during a conference in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The committee said in a statement that Spain's "Teide National Park was listed as a natural site for its beauty and its importance in providing evidence of the geological processes that underpin the evolution of oceanic islands."

Also honored was the central campus of Mexico's biggest university, UNAM, located in the country's capital.

"Central University City Campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, built from 1949 to 1952, was inscribed as a unique example of 20th-century modernism integrating urbanism, architecture, engineering, landscape design and fine arts and is one of the most significant icons of modernity in Latin America," the committee said.

The recognition makes Spain one of the main contributors to UNESCO World Heritage List with 40 sites, while Mexico now has 27.

The World Heritage List now has 851 sites, 660 of them in the cultural category, 166 in the nature segment, and 25 mixed, with both cultural and natural importance.

The list of World Heritage Sites in Danger adds some new ones and eliminates a few. New on the list are Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, the Niokolo-Kiba National Park in Senegal, and Samarra.

"Inscribed in 1978, the Galapagos is the first site to have been placed on the World Heritage List," the UNESCO body noted.

"The 19 islands of the Galapagos and their surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique living museum and showcase of evolution. They are threatened by invasive species, growing tourism and immigration," the panel said.

The biosphere reserve on the Platano River in Honduras, the royal palaces of Aborney in Benin, the Katmandu Valley in Nepal, and Everglades National Park in the United States have been crossed off the list of endangered sites. EFE

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news