Six natural wonders declared World Heritage Sites

Sangha Trinational - shared between Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo;

Lakes of Ounianga in Chad

Chengjiang fossil site in China

Lena Pillars Nature Park in Russia

Western Ghats in India

What is IUCN’s World Heritage Programme?

The World Heritage Programme coordinates IUCN’s work on the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which is one of the most important global nature conservation instruments.

It evaluates natural World Heritage Sites nominated for World Heritage Status, monitors the state of conservation of existing Sites, implements capacity building initiatives, and provides technical advice to the World Heritage Committee.

The World Heritage Programme also implements initiatives to enhance the role of the World Heritage Convention in protecting the planet’s biodiversity and promote effective use of its mechanisms to strengthen the conservation and management of natural World Heritage sites.

The Programme is managed from IUCN’s international headquarters in Gland, Switzerland,

Sangha Trinational

Sangha Trinational is a chain of national parks shared between Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. Forming a broad network of well preserved and diverse landscapes, the forests and rivers are home to an outstanding diversity of plants and animals. The area hosts the largest intact populations of forest elephants and great apes, including the critically endangered Western Lowland Gorilla and the endangered Chimpanzee.

“Sangha Trinational is not a fragment but part of a much larger intact environment with good conservation prospects, and harbouring critically endangered species

 

Lena Pillars Nature Park in Russia

Lena Pillars is the name given to a natural rock formation along the banks of the Lena River in far eastern Siberia. The pillars are 150-300m (490-985ft) high, and were formed in some of the Cambrian era sea-basins. This unique ecological and tourism location was submitted as a World Heritage site in 2006.Lena Pillars National Park lies less than a day's boat ride upriver (south) from the city of Yakutsk, the capital of the autonomous Sakha Republic.

Lakes of Ounianga in Chad

The Lakes of Ounianga consist of a series of 18 mostly freshwater lakes in the heart of the Sahara desert in northeastern Chad. Relics of a single, much larger lake occupying the basin less than 10,000 years ago, these lakes are an exceptional example of permanent lakes in a desert.

“The Lakes of Ounianga are a jewel of the Sahara, not only of overwhelming natural beauty, but a testimony to the fragile and unique equilibrium of life on earth

Chengjiang fossil site in China

The rocks of the Chengjiang Fossil Site, near the city of Kunming in the Yuann Province of China, are evidence of the rapid appearance and diversification of species and evolutionary development, also known as the Cambrian explosion, which took place over 530 million years ago. The exceptional remains of species recorded at Chengjiang are key to understanding the early evolution of life on Earth.

“The inscription of The Chengjiang Fossil Site on the World Heritage List recognises this iconic site, which provides direct evidence of the origin of animal diversity,

http://www.fossilmall.com/Science/Sites/Chengjiang/Chengjiang.htm