Published on 17/07/2006

Vilnius (Lithuania), 12 July – The World Heritage Committee Wednesday added eight new sites and one extension to UNESCO’s World Heritage List and removed the archaeological site of Tipasa (Algeria) from the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Committee will continue discussing new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List tomorrow. Below are the sites added to the World Heritage List Wednesday:

Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries (China),
Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary (Colombia),
Harar Jugol (Ethiopia),
Stone Circles of Senegambia (Gambia and Senegal),
Chongoni Rock Art Area (Malawi),
Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila (Mexico),
Kondoa Rock Art Sites (United Republic of Tanzania).
High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago (Sweden and Finland) was added as an extension to the World Heritage site of the High Coast of Sweden
Aapravasi Ghat (Mauritius). In the district of Port Louis, is the 1,640 m2 site where the modern indentured labour diaspora began. In 1834, the British Government selected the island of Mauritius to be the first site for what it called “the great experiment” in the use of “free” labour to replace slaves. Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million indentured labourers arrived from India at Aapravasi Ghat to work in the sugar plantations of Mauritius, or to be transferred to Reunion Island, Australia, southern and eastern Africa or the Caribbean. The buildings of Aapravasi Ghat are among the earliest explicit manifestations of what was to become a global economic system and one of the greatest migrations in history.

Site removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger on Wednesday:

The World Heritage Committee decided to remove the Algerian site of Tipasa from the List of World Heritage in Danger.