25 September 2023
Seven new African sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List at the just concluded extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event which kicked off on Sunday 10 September 2023 came to a close today Monday 25 September, with the committee adding 42 new sites (33 cultural, 9 natural) and extended 5 sites already on the List.
Among the successful nominations, there are 5 new cultural landscapes and with these additions we have now 126 properties officially recognized as such on the World Heritage List which represents 10.5% of the List. Of the 42 newly listed properties and the 5 extensions approved, a breakdown by region shows Europe/North-America has the largest share with 21. Asia-Pacific has 13 properties, while Latin America/Caribbean and Arab States both have 3 properties each. This brings the total number of World Heritage sites to 1199 (993 cultural, 227 natural, 39 mixed).
The total breakdown by region of the World Heritage List:
- Africa: 103 properties
- Arab States: 93 properties
- Asia-Pacific: 288 properties
- Europe/North-America: 566 properties
- Latin America/Caribbean: 149 properties
The trans-regional properties are counted in only one region.
A Decisive Year for African Heritage
With 5 new African sites inscribed this year, the continent has reached the symbolic milestone of 100 sites on the World Heritage List. Rwanda had its first 2 inscriptions: Nyungwe National Park and the genocide memorial sites at Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero. This session was also marked by the removal of the Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi in Uganda from the World Heritage in Danger list, following an ambitious restoration project implemented by the Ugandan authorities and local communities with the support of UNESCO.
With the aim of increasing the number of African heritage sites on the World Heritage List, the States Parties to the Convention also adopted a dedicated strategy for the continent developed by UNESCO. This strategy will provide better support for African states carrying out local conservation projects and preparing World Heritage nomination files.
Newly Inscribed African Sites on UNESCO World Heritage List (Natural)
Congo, Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua (2022 Nominations)
This property is an excellent example, at an exceptionally large-scale, of the process of post-glacial forest recolonization of savanna ecosystems. It is therefore ecologically significant as a convergence point of multiple ecosystem types (Congolese Forest, Lower Guinean Forest and Savanna).
The broad range of age classifications across the forest succession spectrum contributes to the park’s highly distinct ecology, incorporating a broad range of remarkable ecological processes. It is one of the most important strongholds for forest elephants in Central Africa, and is recognized as the park with the richest primate diversity in the region.
Madagascar, Andrefana Dry Forests [extension of “Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve”, inscribed in 1990] (2022 Nominations)
The Dry Forests of Andrefana is a serial extension of the Tsingy de Bemaraha World Heritage property and consists of five protected areas. The new component parts cover almost the full range of ecological and evolutionary variation within the western forests of Madagascar from north to south, including western dry forests and southwestern spiny forest-thicket.
These additional sites are of extreme importance for conservation as they cover a spectacular array of endemic and threatened biodiversity, including baobabs, flame trees (Delonix), as well as unique evolutionary lineages such as the Mesitornithiformes, an order of birds which is 54 million years old.
Ethiopia, Bale Mountains National Park (2023 Nominations)
This property protects a landscape mosaic of extraordinary beauty that is shaped by the combined forces of ancient lava outpourings, glaciation and the dissection by the Great Rift Valley. It features volcanic peaks and ridges, dramatic escarpments, sweeping valleys, glacial lakes, lush forests, deep gorges and numerous waterfalls, creating exceptional natural beauty.
The property harbours diverse and unique biodiversity at ecosystem, species and genetic levels, and five major rivers originate within the Park, estimated to supply water and support the livelihoods of millions of people in and beyond Ethiopia.
Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park (2023 Nominations)
This serial property represents an important area for rainforest conservation in Central Africa. The property is home to intact forests and peat bogs, moors, thickets and grasslands, providing habitats to a highly diverse flora and fauna. The Park also contains the most significant natural habitats for a number of species found nowhere else in the world, including the globally threatened Eastern Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis ssp. kandti) and the Critically Endangered Hills Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hillorum).
There are also 12 mammal and seven bird species that are globally threatened, and with 317 species of birds recorded, Nyungwe National Park is one of the most important sites for bird conservation in Africa.
Newly Inscribed African Sites on UNESCO World Heritage List (Cultural)
Benin, Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba [extension of “Koutammakou, the Land of Batammariba” inscribed by Togo in 2004] (2022 Nominations)
This property is an extension to the Koutammakou landscape in north-eastern Togo [inscribed in 2004], home to the Batammariba. The extension to the site lies in neighboring Benin and embodies the characteristic and original land use of the Batammariba, whose dwellings are known as takienta (sikien in the plural).
Groves, springs and sacred rocks, terraced slopes and networks of water retaining walls, and forests and plant species used in the construction of sikien, associated with the rituals and beliefs of the Batammariba, also form part of this cultural landscape.
Ethiopia, The Gedeo Cultural Landscape (2022 Nominations)
The property lies along the eastern edge of the Main Ethiopian Rift, on the steep escarpments of the Ethiopian highlands. An area of agroforestry, it utilizes multilayer cultivation with large trees sheltering indigenous enset, the main food crop, under which grow coffee and other shrubs.
The area is densely populated by the Gedeo people whose traditional knowledge support local forest management. Within the cultivated mountain slopes are sacred forests traditionally used by local communities for rituals associated with the Gedeo religion, and along the mountain ridges are dense clusters of megalithic monuments, which came to be revered by the Gedeo and cared for by their elders.
Rwanda, Memorial Sites of Genocide: Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero (2023 Nominations)
Between April and July 1994, an estimated one million people were killed across Rwanda by armed militias called Interahamwe that targeted Tutsi, but also executed moderate Hutu and Twa people. The victims of the genocide are commemorated in this serial property composed of four memorial sites. Two of the component parts were scenes of massacres: a Catholic church built in the hill of Nyamata in 1980, and a technical school built in the hill of Murambi in 1990.
The hill of Gisozi in Kigali City hosts the Kigali Genocide Memorial built in 1999, where more than 250,000 victims have been buried, while the hill of Bisesero in the Western Province hosts a memorial built in 1998, to remember the fight of those who resisted their perpetrators for over two months before being exterminated.
Tunisia, Djerba: cultural landscape, testimony to a settlement pattern in an island territory (2023 Nominations)
This serial property is a testimony to a settlement pattern that developed on the island of Djerba around the 9th century CE amidst the semi-dry and water-scarce environment.
Low‑density was its key characteristic: it involved the division of the island into neighbourhoods, clustered together, that were economically self-sustainable, connected to each other and to the religious and trading places of the island, through a complex network of roads. Resulting from a mixture of environmental, socio-cultural and economic factors, the distinctive human settlement of Djerba demonstrates the way local people adapted their lifestyle to the conditions of their water-scarce natural environment.