By ,
Published January 08, 2015
A total of 26 places around the globe, including farmhouses in Sweden and a Neolithic site in Turkey, have been added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites so far this year, according to a recent announcement during the World Heritage Committee's annual meeting.
Some spots are famed for their unique natural beauty and others for their cultural significance. With the addition of the 26 sites, there are now 962 World Heritage Sites around the planet.
Here's a list of the newest additions:
Five natural sites were inscribed during the present session: Lakes of Ounianga (Chad); Sangha Trinational (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo,); Chengjiang Fossil Site (China); Western Ghats (India); Lena Pillars Nature Park (Russian Federation).
Twenty cultural sites were inscribed during the present session:
Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (Palau) was inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site.
The Birthplace of Jesus was also added to the list of sites in danger. The Galapagos Islands were kicked off that list in 2010, a move that some conservationists questioned. The "danger list" focuses international attention, and sometimes funding, on particularly vulnerable areas.
The 36th session of the World Heritage Committee began on June 24 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and will wrap up on July 6.
The session also uncovered some World Heritage success stories. Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore (Pakistan) and the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (Philippines) were removed from the list of sites in danger.
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