The World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared largest mangrove forest on earth, the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, as a “World Heritage in Danger” site. UNESCO also discussed the future of this World Heritage site during their meeting in Azerbaijan.
The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by UNESCO through the World Heritage
Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention, which was established in 1972 in order to designate and manage World Heritage Sites. Entries in the list are threatened World Heritage Sites for the conservation of which major operations are required and for which “assistance has been requested”. The list is intended to increase international awareness of the threats and to encourage counteractive measures by the officials of the country and/or other international experts. Threats to a site can be either proven imminent threats or potential dangers that could have adverse effects on a
site.
In the case of natural sites, determined dangers include the serious decline in the population of an endangered or other valuable species or the deterioration of natural beauty or scientific value of a property caused by human activities such as logging, pollution, settlement, mining, agriculture and major public works. Established threats for cultural properties include serious deterioration of materials, structure, ornaments or architectural coherence and the loss of historical authenticity or cultural significance. Potential dangers for both cultural and natural sites include development projects,
armed conflicts, insufficient management systems or changes in the legal protective status of the properties. In the case of cultural sites, gradual changes due to geology, climate or environment can also be potential dangers based on description of UNESCO.
Some other sites on this list include Ancient cities of Aleppo and Bosra which have experienced major destruction during years of war and conflict with the so called Islamic State and Syria’s civil war.
You can learn more about these sites on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger page