7 stories of optimism this week (19.08.2024 - 26.08.2024)

Wondering what went right this week in the conservation world? We’ve got you covered with our special edition World-Heritage themed Conservation Optimism Round-Up this week! From the 21-31st July last month, the World Heritage Committee met in New Delhi, India and inscribed 6 new natural World Heritage Sites including some of the most globally important and unique ecosystems and landscapes in the World. Find out more about these new sites in this weed’s roundup!

(Featured image credit: Guo Qi)

1. Badain Jaran Desert – Towers of Sand and Lakes (China)

” Located in the remote autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, this site represents an outstanding example of the ongoing evolution of desert landscapes. Covering a vast expanse of almost 800,000 ha, it contains a significant diversity of geological features including an abundance of mega dunes, 144 striking interdunal lakes of a myriad of colours (caused by the varying salinity and microbial communities unique to each lake), and large swathes of so called ‘singing sands’.”

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1638

Image Credit: Guo Qi (taken from Flickr)

2. The Flow Country (United Kingdom)

” This area protects one of the largest remaining in-tact, blanket peat bog ecosystems in Europe and is now the world’s first majority peatland World Heritage Site. Home to diverse peatland fauna and flora, the peat can reach up to eight metres thick in many places and sequesters significant amounts of carbon”

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1722

Image Credit: Stephan Ridgway (taken from Flickr)

3. Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Brazil)

” The national park is a striking landscape of unique beauty shaped by the interplay of climate, oceanography, and geomorphology. The coastal dunes, that meet the Atlantic Ocean via rugged sand beaches, are transformed in the rainy season with the formation of temporary interdunal lakes fed exclusively by rainwater. ”

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1611

Image Credit: Augusto Pessoa from Wikimedia Commons

4. Vjetrenica Cave, Ravno (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

“Vjetrenica Cave, one of the longest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stands out globally for its unique biodiversity and endemic species. It is one of the world’s most important sites for cave-dwelling fauna, being home to a total of 231 taxa of subterranean biodiversity, including several type specimens and some that are only found within this cave or region. Many of the species found here could be considered living fossils. ”

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1673

Image Credit: Jela Jeca from Wikimedia Commons

5. Te Henua Enata – The Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia, France)

” Inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site, Te Henua Enata are a hotspot for terrestrial and marine biodiversity and endemicity. This includes more than 300 plant species, some of which, due to the isolation and age of the islands, are unique to single mountain peaks on single islands. ”

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1707

Image Credit: Steve Berardi from Flickr

6. Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (China)

” This site was extended to include ten further components. These additional components are essential stepping stones for more than 400 migratory bird species travelling along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (the most threatened flyway in the world, due to increasing development, urbanisation and pollution). ”

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1606

Image Credit: Tareq’s Photography taken from Animalia

7. 19 new cultural sites were also inscribed, including some within biodiversity hotspots and national parks

” There is often significant overlap between areas of cultural and natural values with close nature-culture inter-linkages. Currently 20% of cultural World Heritage Sites overlap with Key Biodiversity Areas. One of these is the newly inscribed ‘Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves Complex’ which includes large amounts of primary forest and karst systems, and 241 species of birds. ”