Western Tien-Shan mountains
ASIA is now home to half of UNESCO’s newly-inscribed sites, according to a recently-released list by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Some of these sites include the Archaeological Site of Ani located on the Asia half of Turkey and the Western Tien-Shan mountains which straddle the three Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The mountain range, with a minimum altitude of 700m and a maximum of 4,503m, features diverse landscapes that are home to rich biodiversity.
India is home to three sites: Nalanda Mahavihara, an archaeological site that dates back to 3BC; Khangchendzonga National Park, a sacred spot to the local Sikkim people; and Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh, which is one out of the 17 sites worldwide that fall under the collective architecture of creative genius Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier.
China and Iran have two sites each that made the cut. In China, they are Hubei Shennongjia, the largest primary forest containing rare species like the elusive Asian Black Bear; and Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, 38 rock paintings that depict the life of the bygone Luoyue people.
In Iran, The Persian Qanat, an ancient underground irrigation channel that once provided the country with precious water; and the Lut Desert, with its otherworldly rock formations, were inscribed onto the list.
Last but not least, war-torn Iraq is home to one collective UNESCO site, The Ahwar of Southern Iraq, which consists of three archaeological areas (Uruk, Ur and Tell Eridu) and four wetland marshes in the southern part of the country.
Elsewhere on the globe, newly-inscribed sites include Canada’s Mistaken Point, a 17km stretch of cliffs located on the south-east of Newfoundland that boast marine fossils formed more than 560 million years ago; and Sanganeb Marine National Park and Dungonab Bay, a marine hotspot with dugongs and manta rays, in Sudan.
In total, there were 21 sites that were inscribed onto the UNESCO’s World Heritage site list this year.
