WILDLIFE HABITAT, FLORA (9 whs)

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Cape Floral Region
Greater Blue Mountains
Kinabalu Park
Lopé-Okanda
Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha
Mount Hamiguitan
Vallée de Mai

http://www.worldheritagesite.org/categories/category2.html

my selection

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park
Cape Floral Region
Greater Blue Mountains
Kinabalu Park

We need some more background here - why do we want to include A and reject B?
Think of the little green men, think of what's iconic or unique, what's worth a journey?

My selection:
Vallee de Mai for its unique variety of flora and birds

My selection:

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park - Caribbean endemism - Y
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park - The fauna seems to be more unique. - N
Cape Floral Region - Unique floristic kingdom - Y
Greater Blue Mountains - Representative of eukalypts - Y
Kinabalu Park - Pacific flora - Y
Lopé-Okanda - Cultural criteria prevail - N
Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha - same - N
Mount Hamiguitan - Similar to Kinabalu, yet a lot of endemism - Y
Vallée de Mai - mostly focused on the coco-de-mer, not unique enough - N

Not much to add beyond the analysis of Assif.
- Not fond of the Greater Blue Mountains & its eucalypts. Would be a Maybe for me (why would this tree be more important than others, maybe better compare with forests category).
- Reading the AB evs, Kinabalu and Hamiguitan are not really similar. We should not overvalue Mt Hamiguitan because it sounds exotic & its addition was recent. Kinabalu can also represent Borneo (quite a gap in the current WH list), and it's one of the few sites with focus on plant diversity & high endemism. So for me it would be a Yes for Kinabalu.
- Mt. Hamiguitan seems to be in the same range (but totally different biogeographic region of course) as Humboldt NP. So both are a Yes or both are a Maybe.

I would support clyde with regards to Vallée de Mai. For the rest, I would follow Assif and Els.

I think this category will be much easier for me than fauna, since so many sites I'd recognize for fauna also have comparable flora to represent a region. Here are the sites I'd choose from this list:

1. Alejandro de Humboldt National Park -- highlights flora endemic to the Caribbean (also a good site for Caribbean fauna)
2. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park -- highest diversity of tree species and ferns in East Africa (also home to mountain gorillas)
3. Cape Floral Region -- one of the world's six floral kingdoms, with fynbos vegetation; my choice for the best on this list

The others on this list have good qualities, but I might choose other sites that could represent them just as well.

Greater Blue Mountains -- eucalypts can also be found in Gondwana Rainforests
Kinabalu Park -- Els made a good point about representing Borneo on the list, and I think this is a very worthy site; I already have one Malaysian Borneo natural site on my list (Gunung Mulu), so I cut this one, though I could be convinced
Lope-Okanda -- nothing against this park, but I think Dja Faunal Reserve might better cover this region
Mount Emei -- I think the flora of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries covers similar ground
Mount Hamiguitan -- I might go with the diverse landscape and flora of Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River to represent the Philippines
Valle de Mai -- Clyde made a good point about the coco-de-mer, but I don't know if it is enough for me to choose another natural site from the Seychelles, especially since Aldabra Atoll already covers flora found in this part of the world

My selection:

Kinabalu Park
Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha

Wrapping this one up:

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park - highlights flora endemic to the Caribbean (also a good site for Caribbean fauna)
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Cape Floral Region - one of the world's six floral kingdoms, with fynbos vegetation
Greater Blue Mountains - for the eucalypts
Kinabalu Park - representing Borneo and its flora
Lopé-Okanda
Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha
Mount Hamiguitan
Vallée de Mai - for its unique variety of flora and birds

We have three supporters for Hamiguitan.

I think we have only 1. Two also mentioned it but prefer other sites above it. Colvin prefers Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River, I said that we should not overvalue it (and made a reference to Alejandro Humboldt Park which seems overvalued too to me).

Let's wait and see what others think, we need a few more opinions on this category.