The UN has withdrawn the Galápagos Islands from its world heritage danger list, citing improved efforts by Ecuador to protect the archipelago's unique biodiversity.
The world heritage committee of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) voted 15 to four to remove the islands from the list of sites endangered by environmental threats or overuse.
"It's important to recognize the effort made by the Ecuadorean government to preserve this heritage," said Luiz Fernando de Almeida, head of the Brazilian delegation, which proposed the motion at the meeting in Brasilia.
Ecuador's government will welcome the decision, which reversed UNESCO's listing in 2007, but some conservationists expressed alarm.
President Rafael Correa's administration had tackled serious problems in the archipelago but it was too soon to declare victory, said Johannah Barry, head of Galápagos Conservancy, a Virginia-based research group.
"The growing human presence in Galápagos, both through tourism and residents, has put biodiversity at risk. Introduction of disease, alien and invasive plants and animals are all factors which must be addressed immediately and aggressively. I believe the decision is premature and I hope it does not signal a relaxation of vigilant management and conservation efforts."
The chain of volcanic islands 600 miles off Ecuador's Pacific coast are home to endogenous species, such as giant tortoises (right) and boobies (below left - blue-footed booby), which helped inspire Charles Darwin's theories on evolution and natural selection.
A permanent human population which doubled to about 30,000 in the past decade, swollen by more than 190,000 tourists annually, triggered concern about pollution, fuel spills and poaching.
Human settlers have also brought invasive species such as insects, cats, rats, cattle and fire ants threatening a habitat which evolved in isolation over millennia.
Ecuador's government has tried to balance conservation and tourism with the demands of residents and migrant workers from mainland South America. Authorities have tried to cap the number of new arrivals and deported illegal migrants. Nevertheless rubbish dumps and new housing developments continue to sprout on some islands.
A UNESCO team recently inspected the archipelago. The panel listened to Ecuador's environment minister, Marcela Aguinaga, before voting. She said controls on migration and the introduction of invasive species had been tightened. (Below right: frigate bird of Galapagos)
The same meeting added Uganda's tombs of Buganda kings at Kasubi (Uganda) to the list of endangered sites. Unesco's complete and amended list of heritage sites was published July 29th, 2010.
The list allows the UN to allocate immediate assistance to sites from the World Heritage fund and puts pressure on local authorities to act.
Source:
The Guardian, "UN withdraws Galápagos from world heritage danger list", accessed August 4, 2010
Sri Lanka's central highlands and a protected marine area in Hawaii, the only habitats of several endangered plant and animal species, have been added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites, the U.N. body said on Saturday.
Sri Lanka's central highlands were deemed of prime importance 
because of the pristine forests that are home to the Sri Lanka leopard and other rare animal and plant life.
Sri Lanka’s highlands are situated in the south-central part of the island. The property comprises the Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles Conservation Forest. These montane forests, where the land rises to 2,500 meters above sea-level, are home to an extraordinary range of flora and fauna, 
including several endangered species such as the western-purple-faced langur, the Horton Plains slender loris and the Sri Lankan leopard. The region is considered a super biodiversity hotspot.
Papahānaumokuākea, the Hawaiian marine site, is a vast and isolated linear cluster of small, low lying islands and atolls, with their surrounding ocean, roughly 250 km to the northwest of the main Hawaiian Archipelago and extending over some 1931 km. 
The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death.
On two of the islands, Nihoa and Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged 
banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons. It is the habitat of the endangered Hawaiian Monk seal (left)and rare birds. The site encompasses about 140,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean. Its isolated reef ecosystems are dominated by top predators like sharks. It is one of the largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world.
"This feature has been lost from most other island environments due to human activity," said Tim Badman, a top adviser at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Badman's group is the advisory body to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and makes recommendations to the committee based on its field research at the sites.
Source:
Reuters, "Sri Lanka, Hawaii sites get world heritage status", accessed August 2, 2010
Votum Solvit, "Two new sites inscribed on World Heritage List", accessed August 2, 2010
The UN has withdrawn the Galápagos Islands from its world heritage danger list, citing improved efforts by Ecuador to protect the archipelago's unique biodiversity.
The list allows the UN to allocate immediate assistance to sites from the World Heritage fund and puts pressure on local authorities to act.
