UNESCO to list sites ‘under threat’ of war, climate change - Taipei Times

UNLOCKING POTENTIAL:

Qualifying as a site ‘in danger’ is not a reprimand, but instead helps states find funding and gain attention to help in its preservation, an official said

The UN looks set to list a Biblical site, Lebanese castles, an antelope migration path and the world’s deepest lake as world treasures under threat, including from war or climate change.The 196 members states of the UNESCO are to cast votes from Friday next week on new additions to its World Heritage and World Heritage in Danger lists when they meet in Busan, South Korea.“We may not have the means to deploy peacekeepers... but we can send a message to the entire world,” UNESCO World Heritage Centre director Lazare Eloundou Assomo said. “These sites are important, and everything must be done to prevent their destruction.”

The archeological site in the Palestinian village of Sebastia in the West Bank is pictured on July 26, 2021.

“[Safeguarding] heritage allows communities that have been traumatized, victims of conflicts, to begin to come back and rebuild,” he added.About 1,200 sites around the globe are listed as part of UNESCO World Heritage.