The 36th annual session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee has finished in Saint Petersburg

Based on the session results, 26 properties (5 natural, 20 cultural, and one mixed property) have been inscribed on the World Heritage list. The World Heritage List now numbers 962 sites from 157 countries; the total number of State Parties has reached 190.

Headed by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO E.V. Mitrofanova, the Committee has inscribed 26 new properties on the World Heritage List. Four nominations require additional work on them (referred), and three nominations were deferred. Meanwhile, five properties were added to the World Heritage List in Danger and two was removed from that List. Four countries - Chad, Congo, the Republic of Palau, and Palestine - acquired their first sites in the World Heritage List.

The decisions pertaining to the state of conservation of six Russian natural properties - "Virgin Komi Forests", "Lake Baikal" (after discussion); "Volcanoes of Kamchatka", "Golden Mountains of Altai", "Western Caucasus", and "Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve" (without discussion) - have been adopted. The full texts of the decisions will be placed on the website in the near future.

New natural properties:

  • Lakes of Ounianga (Chad);
  • Sangha Trinational (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo,);
  • Chengjiang Fossil Site (China);
  • Western Ghats (India);
  • Lena Pillars Nature Park (Russian Federation).

New mixed property:

  • Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (Palau)

The 36th session of the World Heritage Committee was opened on June 24 and finished on July 6. The next session will be held in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) in June 2013.