Oops, connection down?

Missed the interesting discussions about Kaeng Krachan and the rest of the natural sites as I was on a flight to Japan. Looking forward to seeing 3 sites here for a long weekend getaway. I bet lots of people here are updating their lists now!

Did they just go to dinner or something, the feed was cut off.

Session closed for today, with celebrating Iraqis

I think they are concluding the day now. The Chairperson reminded everyone of the discussions on Kaeng Krachan and they are hoping to arrive with a decision by tomorrow morning.

This is still an open issue, a special working group is looking at it. Defer, Refer and Inscribe are all still on the table

so is there a mention of what's on the agenda for tomorrow?

Very interesting reading all the updates. I'll confess I've never paid attention to the inscription process before but I'm getting converted ;)
I won't be able to follow along live so thanks for summarizing everyone!

They are going down this list, page 4: http://whc.unesco.org/archive/2019/whc19-43com-8B-en.pdf

Strangely, whenever there is an earthquake I tend to not be in-state. I am visiting family in Wisconsin and conveniently have now visited 2 more Frank Lloyd Wright components. When I watched the WHC livestream (between 1am and 8am - sporadically), I was in and out of consciousness so the only discussions I remember (at least in part) were French Austral Lands and Seas, Vatnajökull National Park, Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region, and Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites.

Albania and Iraq really campaigned for their sites not to be placed on the "In Danger List". It's unfortunate that this mechanism, 'in danger listing' is still considered such a stain on their state parties reputation, even punishment.

Nominations in bold will likely require debate and extended discussions, India often gets Deferred/Referred nominations overturned. Azerbaijan, has the most difficult challenge in persuading the world heritage committee members to overturn a Not Inscribe recommendation. Will Portugal, Poland, and Czechia be successful in getting the world heritage committee to overturn their respective referrals? I doubt Austria, Jamaica, and Panama can get their Deferred nominations overturned to inscribe, perhaps referral since committee members tend to compromise between WHC members who favor inscription and those who want to strictly adhere to the Advisory bodies evaluation.

Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (Thailand) Deferral
Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City (China)
Jaipur City, Rajasthan (India) Deferral
Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto (Indonesia)
Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan (Japan)
Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang – Plain of Jars (Laos)
Bagan (Myanmar)
Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies (Korea)
Großglockner High Alpine Road (Austria) Deferral
Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia)
Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi (Canada)
Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region (Czechia, Germany)
Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem (Czechia) Referral
Water Management System of Augsburg (Germany)
Krzemionki prehistoric striped flint mining region (Poland) Referral
Royal Building of Mafra – Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park (Tapada) (Portugal) Referral
Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga (Portugal) Referral
Monuments of Ancient Pskov (Russia)
Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape (Spain)
Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK)
Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan's Palace (Azerbaijan) Not Inscribe
Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano a Valdobbiadene (Italy)
The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (United States)
Sunken City of Port Royal – A Relict and Continuing Cultural Landscape (Jamaica) Deferral
Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá (Panama) Deferral

Not clear when these nominations will be placed in regards to order of nominations?

Dilmun Burial Mounds (Bahrain)
Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (Australia

I was expecting to arrive at Vatnajökull on Monday, but now Wednesday looks more likely.

I was wondering if it would still be a tentative site when I got there, or would it already be inscribed. Now I know the answer, and I will pass along our congratulations to the staff there :-)

===END OF FRIDAY SESSION SUMMARY===

China - Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) - Inscribed Change from Deferral
Iran - Hyrcanian Forests - Inscribed
Thailand - Kaeng Kratchen - No conclusion reached today, Working group set up to bring it back to committee at this meeting for final decision
France - French Austral Lands and Seas - Inscribed
Iceland - Vatnajökull National Park - dynamic nature of fire and ice - Inscribed
Albania - extension of "Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region" - Inscription extended
Brazil - Paraty - Inscribed
Burkina Faso - Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites - Inscribed
Iraq - Babylon - Inscribed

I just thought it would be useful to have one of these for people looking for the essentials, let me know if anything is wrong or missed and I will amend it.

I totally agree. The "Heritage in danger" list should be seen as a means to improve the protection, conservation and management of a given site, not as a punishment to the State Party or a deterrent to tourism (I think this is a very bad argument to come up with, it could create a dangerous precendent).

I'm also not entirely happy with the inscription of the "Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I)", as IUCN had recommended it to deferral, but at least it will allow: a)for China to finally tie with Italy, before the 1-site-per-country rule becomes effective next year (though of course Italy has a higher chance to nominate multinational sites, and will of course do it next year, with the Great Spas of Europe and Padova Urbs Picta). b) it will balance a little bit an extremely European-North American year. To have many sites from Europe is of course a matter of every year, but I feel this year is much more so. I believe Asia is the WH powerhouse of the future.

I hope that Kaeng Krachan will get the deferral that it deserves. This should be seen also by everyone as a means for Thailand to improve the conditions on site (especially regarding the Karen refugees), and for IUCN to assess if the new site borders are adequate to represent the OUV that the site clearly has.

Lastly, thanks to everyone for your insightful updates. It definitely helps me get the details of the discussions. Let's see what brings tomorrow.

Just landed from my flight; thanks for the summary, meltwaterfalls, and thanks everyone for the updates along the way!