World Heritage Sites Related Content

Nov 8 2010 - 2:13pm
The Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park site in the Philippines was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999. The site’s topography varies from flat plains to rolling hinterlands and hills to mountain peaks, encompassing a complete mountain-to-sea ecosystem and providing...
Nov 4 2010 - 3:44pm
The Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture site in Spain was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999. The site’s dense prairies of Posidonia oceanica, an important (and highly productive) endemic sea grass, provide coastal protection from storms, food and habitat for a broad diversity of marine life...
Nov 5 2010 - 3:37pm
The Ha Long Bay site in Vietnam was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1994. The site’s 1,600 islands and islets form a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars surrounded by species-rich waters, including a tremendous diversity of marine algae and over a thousand varieties of fish.
Nov 4 2010 - 1:47pm
The High Coast in Sweden and the Kvarken Archipelago in Finland were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2000. The High Coast and the 5,600 islands of the archipelago have been shaped by the combined processes of glaciation, glacial retreat, and the emergence of new land from the sea, as the...
Nov 8 2010 - 2:19pm
The Aldabra Atoll site in the Seychelles was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982. The site is comprised of a coral reef surrounding four large coral islands, which enclose a shallow lagoon.
Nov 4 2010 - 11:49am
The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System site in Belize was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996. The site is an outstanding natural system, consisting of the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, offshore atolls, and several hundred sand cays, mangrove forests, coastal lagoons,...
Nov 4 2010 - 11:59am
The Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary site in Colombia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The marine park surrounding Malpelo Island is the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, providing critical refuge for threatened and endangered marine mammals, fish, and...
Nov 4 2010 - 3:54pm
The St. Kilda site in the United Kingdom was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986. The volcanic archipelago and surrounding marine waters have some of the highest cliffs in Europe and host large colonies of rare and endangered birds.
Nov 4 2010 - 11:30am
The Península Valdés in Argentina was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999. The site is home to important breeding populations of the endangered southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), and southern sea lion (Otaria flavescens), pictured here.
Nov 4 2010 - 3:36pm
The Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve site in Russia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004. Located well above the Arctic Circle, the site includes the mountainous Wrangel Island, Herald Island, and surrounding waters.
Nov 4 2010 - 11:46am
The Sundarbans site in Bangladesh was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997.
Nov 8 2010 - 1:57pm
The Sian Ka’an site in Mexico was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987. The site’s name means “Origin of the Sky” in Mayan and contains tropical forests, mangroves, and marshes, as well as a large marine area intersected by the Caribbean Barrier Reef. On land there are 1,200 plant species...
Nov 4 2010 - 11:38am
The Heard & McDonald Islands site in Australia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997. As the only volcanically active sub-Antarctic islands, Heard and McDonald provide the opportunity to observe ongoing geomorphic processes and glacial dynamics.
Nov 5 2010 - 1:25pm
The Shiretoko site in Japan was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005. The site’s key feature is its exceptional productivity, largely resulting from the formation of relatively low-latitude seasonal sea ice, which feeds the growth of phytoplankton, the base of the marine food-web.
Nov 4 2010 - 3:48pm
The Gough and Inaccessible Islands site in the United Kingdom was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1995. The site, located in the south Atlantic, is one of the least-disrupted island and marine ecosystems in the cool temperate zone. The spectacular cliffs, towering above the ocean, are free...
Nov 5 2010 - 1:17pm
The Area de Conservación Guanacaste site in Costa Rica was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999. The site has the most intact inshore Pacific marine ecosystem between the Panama Canal Zone and Mexico, with major nutrient-rich upwelling currents, resulting in high biological productivity.
Nov 4 2010 - 1:15pm
The Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek site in Canada and the United States was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979. The sites protected areas along the boundary of Canada and the United States of America are the largest non-polar ice-field in the world and...
Tridacna maxima
Nov 9 2010 - 12:54pm
Marine World Heritage is a prestigious list of 43 marine ecosystems and biodiversity treasures from across the globe, including  countries such as Australia, Iceland, Russia, South Africa, the Phillippines, United States, and Yemen. Together, they can be considered the “Crown Jewels of our...
Nov 4 2010 - 1:37pm
The Cocos Island National Park site in Costa Rica was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997. Cocos Island’s position as the first point of contact with the northern equatorial counter-current and the myriad interactions between the island and the surrounding marine ecosystem make the area an...
Nov 4 2010 - 3:30pm
The Phoenix Islands Protected Area site in Kiribati was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010. The site encompasses one of the world's largest intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, together with 14 known underwater seamounts and other deep-sea habitats. There are about 200 coral...
Nov 4 2010 - 12:03pm
The Everglades National Park in the United States was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979. This site is a unique ecosystem created by a shallow, “imperceptible river” 50 miles wide, flowing slowly south to the tip of Florida.
Nov 8 2010 - 2:03pm
The Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino site in Mexico was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993.
Nov 5 2010 - 1:11pm
The Socotra Archipelago site in Yemen was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2008. The marine life is diverse and includes 283 species of coral, 730 species of coastal fish, and 300 species of crab, lobster, and shrimp.
Nov 4 2010 - 11:52am
The Brazilian Atlantic Islands site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2001. The rich waters of the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Rocas Atoll are extremely important for the breeding and feeding of tuna, shark, turtle, and marine mammals. The site is home to the largest concentration...