From 2 to 10 July 2008, the World Heritage Committee will get together again (in Quebec), to decide about new sites to be included in the List.

At least the following new sites are up for competition:
- Mauritius - Le Morne Cultural Landscape
- Saudi Arabia - Al-Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih)
- Yemen - Socotra Archipelago
- China - Fujian Tulou
- China - Mount Sanqingshan National Park
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea - Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong
- India Mountain Railways of India (serial extension to include Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR))
- Indonesia - Cultural Landscape of Bali Province
- Iran (Islamic Rep.of) - The Monastery of Saint Thaddeus Ensemble
- Japan Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology
- Kazakhstan - Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan
- Malaysia - Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca: Melaka and George Town
- Mongolia - Hovsgol Lake and its Watershed
- Papua New Guinea - The Kuk Early Agricultural Site
- Vanuatu - Chief Roi Mata's Domain
- Bulgaria - Pirin National Park
- Canada - The Joggins Fossil Cliffs
- Croatia - The Stari Grad Plain
- France - L'oeuvre de Vauban
- France - Les lagons de Nouvelle-Calédonie : diversité récifale et écosystèmes associés
- Germany - Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector's Summer Residence – Garden Design and Freemasonic Allusions
- Czech Republic - Spa of Luhacovice – area with a collection of historic spa buildings and spa-related facilities
- Hungary / Slovakia - System of Fortification at the Confluence of the Rivers Danube and Váh in Komárno – Komárom
- Iceland - Sturtsey
- Israel - The Triple-arch Gate at Dan
- Italy - Mantoue et Sabbioneta
- Italy - Bradyseism in Phlegraean Area
- Russian Federation - "The Putorana Plateau" Nature Complex
- San Marino - San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano
- Slovakia - Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area
- Slovakia - Extension of the Location of Spišský Hrad and its Associated Cultural Monuments with Levoca and the Work of Master Paul in Spiš
- Spain - Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (extension to Altamira Cave)
- Switzerland - Glarus overthrust
- Switzerland / Italy - Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape
- United Kingdom - Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site: The Antonine Wall
- Argentina - Cultural Landscape of Buenos Aires
- Bolivia - Quarry of the Fabrica Nacional de Cementos S.A. (FANCESA), Cal Orck'O, Sucre, Departamento Chuqisaca
- Brazil - São Francisco Square in the city of São Cristóvão
- Cuba - Urban Historic Scenary Camagüey
- Mexico - Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de
- Nazareno de Atotonilco
- Mexico - Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
- Nicaragua - Cathédrale de León

And some of last year's referrals, deferrals or withdrawals might make a come-back in some form:
- Prince Edward Islands, South Africa
- Ba Be National Park, Vietnam,
- Speleothems of French Limestone Caves, Outstanding Records of Karst Processes and Archives of Palaeo-climates, France
- The Dolomites, Italy,
- Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve,Mexico,
- Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, Kenya,
- Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear, Cambodia
- Sulaiman-Too Cultural Landscape (Sacred Mountain), Kyrgyzstan,
- Batanes Cultural Landscapes, Philippines,
- Sarazm, Tajikistan,
- Bregenzerwald Cultural Landscape, Austria,
- Hand Paper Mill at Velké Losiny, Czech Republic
- Paimio Hospital (former Paimio Sanatorium), Finland
- Bahá'i Holy Places in Haifa and the Western Galilee, Israel,
- Valnerina and the Marmore Cascade, Italy
- Gdansk - The Site of Memory and Freedom, Poland
- Sibiu, the Historic Centre, Romania,
- Darwin at Downe, United Kingdom
- The Historic Centre of Berat (City of 25 Centuries Cultural Continuity and Religious Coexistence), Albania, (Serial gjirokastra)
- Heidelberg Castle and Old Town, Germany,
- Foundational City of La Plata, Argentina

Have you visited one of those above? Would that one be a valuable addition?

I'll start myself:

Komarno/Komarom: visited this one recently in Slovakia. The connected historical stories (long Siege, split between Hungaria/Slovakia) might get it on the list. It's not a mighty interesting place to visit though. The fortress is huge and to the untrained eye looks a bit like the already inscribed Defense Line of Amsterdam.
In all honesty, there are already so many fortresses on the List I would give this a No

Slovakia - Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area: also part of my Slovakia trip. This would actually be an extension to the already existing WHS of wooden churches in Southern Poland. I've got a soft spot for rural sites like these and their interiors are often fabulous, so a Yes.

Slovakia - Extension of the Location of Spišský Hrad and its Associated Cultural Monuments with Levoca and the Work of Master Paul in Spiš: I visited Levoca especially to see the "Cage of Shame" - this iron cage in front of the town hall was used to lock up women that wouldn't behave. Nice, Italian-like town also. As it's only an extension, a Yes

I will need to know exact boundaries and fully check some of the European sites and remind myself of holidays in the last 45 years for eg - Vauban, Komarom, Mantua et al but can remember visits to the following

1. Saudi Arabia - Madain Salih - a Petra-like Nabatean site. 1 amazing monolithic building and some interesting tombs with inscriptions threatening all sorts of terrible things to anyone who disturbs them. A nice site but unfortunately Petra had already covered the culture

2. DPRK - Kaesong monuments and sites. A nice "old town" and the tombs are more authentic than the Koguryo ones but anything from DPRK is a bit suspect

3. Cultural Landscape of Bali - Amazingly I was just about to propose this for the Top 50. It really ought to be on!

4. Malaysia Georgetown/Malacca. I have only seen the former - "atmospheric" tropical, touristy. I don't know how sanitised it has become - not like Singpapore's own equivalent district I hope - I would have preferred Kuching and the "White Rajahs"

5. PNG - Kuk.. I have "seen" (early agriculture/gardening and therefore significant in the history of mankind's development) it, or rather its general location, from the air but there is nothing to see as excavations have been covered up!! Think there are better on PNG's T list

6. San Marino - another tourist trap from Europe. I wouldn't give it a yes - what is it adding??

7. Cult Landscape of BA - Mixed feelings - it IS an interesting "transplant" in S America and possesses an additional "Latin American" feel but a city as a "Cultural Landscape"??. I don't know if La Recoleta is included but it is a fine site. A bit "iffy" in my view - and certainly not "top 50 calibre"!

8. Mexico - San Miguel and Atoninalco - if it IS inscribed then it is lucky I followed up the T List sites I did on my recent trip to Mexico! It is said of San Miguel by Mexicans that you need a US passport to get in. It is FULL of retired/wealthy/2nd home etc US citizens - the sidewalks are full of their pooches. Mexico has better. But I really liked Atoninalco - a wondnerful Indigeno feel to the shrine but in need of restoration

9. Mexico - Monarch Butterfly Reserve - again I was there just a 2 months ago. A world class highlight of our trip -nothing like it on the list currently

10. Nicaragua - Leon is just another Spanish colonial Cathedral and the list is FULL of these! The best thing in Leon was the Sandanista wall propaganda

I have visited other additions
1. Pirin - well I am not even sure about the original!
2. Antonine Wall - a sop to the Scots by the UK government - it was "their turn" - but the UK has better!
3. Kalka Simla Railway (extension to Mntn railways) - a "railcar" not steam unfortunately. Not a patch on the Darjeeling original!

Haven't visited but I was going to propose Surtsey as a Top 50 so no problem there

1. Vauban (France) - I've only been to Neuf-Brisach (Neubreisach) and the immense fortifications are indeed breathtaking. I don't think other such buildings resemble this 'modern' pattern so I would give it a YES.

2. Bahai Sites (Israel) - I've only been to the Bahai temple in Haifa but that's the essence of the proposal. It's Neoclassical and pretty new. The only thing that does make it special apart from its religious status is its attempt to emulate the hanging gardens of Babylon. The view of the gardens steeping from the top of the Carmel mountains down to the Haifa port is special and that might be the only proper reason for inclusion. MAYBE.

3. Dan (Israel) - It is proposed as a mixed site as it offers a tell as well as a nature reserve. I've only been to the nature reserve and found it disappointing. I find Israel has much better natural sites to offer. As to the tell, I don't think it should be very special and since there are already three Israeli tells on the list (Megiddo, Beersheba and Hatzor) I would give it a NO.

4. Heidelberg (Germany) - A beautiful town, mainly the castle with its view over the Neckar. It also has one of the oldest unis in the world (I think the oldest outside Italy). Despite being beautiful it has been rejected before as it offers nothing new to the list. If this is the criterion I would have to concer to the earlier decision. NO.

5. Levoca (Slovakia) - a beautiful Renaissance town. Master Paul's work is expressive but there are certainly better examples of Renaissance wooden scupltoring. His work is anyway already represented in Spisska Kapitual. Nonetheless, as it is only an extension and so much near the other sites I would still give it a YES.


6. Bregenzer Forest (Austria) - honestly, I don't see why it has been proposed from the first place. NO

I visited Darwin at Down a year or two ago and although it was a nice day out and well kept I really didn't think it was of a good enough standard to make the list, there was not very much that made this place unique to Darwin or his discoveries it mostly could have just been any other house, though there was a selection of plants in the gardens that had been used by Darwin to provide evidence for his theories. The audio tour was good though as it was done by Sir David Attenborough. All in all a nice place to visit but not world heritage material.

Surtsey - is pretty much impossible to visit unless you are a scientist with express permission to visit, though I did catch a glimpse of it as we flew over from London. The Culture House (an excellent little museum with a small but breathtaking collection of Icelandic manuscripts) in Reykjavik has devoted its whole top floor to Surtsey to tie in with its nomination to be a World Heritage Site, it was a very impressive display giving both a good overview and a lot of details if you wanted it, the whole nomination dossier was available to view in one room. Certainly would say this would be a great addition to the list, it is probably the only island in the world where its entire history from birth has been documented and scientifically studied. A great representative site for Iceland as well. But like I said it is essentially impossible to visit though apparently in summer some boats and planes can be chartered to take you out to get a better view.

Vauban – I think this will be one to add to my seen but not visited list, I have caught glimpses of his work at Calais, Lille and Arras but not really visited them. He did do some work on Luxembourg which I would have seen but that is not nominated, neither is his work at Ieper which I re-visited last year and thought was pretty impressive. Fortifications feature pretty heavily on the list but there was something different about these and I think is probably worthy of a place on the list. I am not sure if his work in Calais is included but this would probably make the city the most undeserving place in the world to have two monuments inscribed on the World heritage list.

I have always wondered, how do you know the proposed sites before the session other than through periodic articles on some of the sites?

I've been to Malacca (it's somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore) for a short visit and it's definitely a worthy site although I did not see many tourists.

To answer this: since about 2 years there's an official document called (2007) "List of complete nominations received by 1 February 2007 and for examination by the Committee at its 32nd session (2008)". It can be found here, and I used this as a source for the above.

RE HIRAIZUMI
The following extract appeared the other day in an English version of a Japanese newspaper indicating that ICOMOS has recommended "deferral" for Hiraizumi. That is no great long term disaster for the Japanese as the general rule seems to be that deferred sites keep trying and nearly always get in! However I thought the comments about the "diplomatic efforts" which were made last year re Iwami Ginzan (but are less easy this year!) give a fascinating, behind the scenes, insight into the sort of political trading which goes on at WHC - and explains many of the perhaps less than obvious sites which are currenlty on the list!!

"A UNESCO advisory committee has recommended deferring registration of the Hiraizumi area in Iwate Prefecture as a World Heritage cultural site, the government announced Friday.

It is the second time that a World Heritage site candidate proposed by Japan has been the subject of such a recommendation after Iwami Ginzan silver mine in Shimane Prefecture, which eventually won full recognition last year.

In its recommendation, the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) says the historical importance of the Hiraizumi area has yet to be fully proved--comments that come as a strong rebuff to the Cultural Affairs Agency and the prefectural government.

In the Iwami Ginzan case, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee eventually overruled ICOMOS, approving the site's registration in July last year. That decision came two months after ICOMOS had recommended against registering the silver mine.

Hoping that Hiraizumi's rejection also will be overturned at this year's World Heritage Committee meeting, to be held in July, the Cultural Affairs Agency intends to appeal to UNESCO ambassadors from the 21 countries that are committee members this year.

However, it is not clear that the diplomatic efforts will help Japan turn the tables as Tokyo is not a member of the panel this year--as it was last year--but only has observer status."

More news is finally coming out: this Indian (!) news item tells about 47 new sites that are considered.

Among those (the only ones named) are:
India: River Island of Majuli AND Mountain Railways of India (serial extension to include Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR)).
China: Mount Sanqingshan National Park (natural) and Fujian Tulou (cultural)
Yemen: Socotra Archipelago
Israel: The Triple-arch Gate at Dan AND Bahá'i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee
Cultural Landscape of Bali Province (Indonesia)
The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iranian Azarbayjan ((Islamic Republic of Iran)
Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology (Japan)
Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain (Kyrgyzstan),
Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca: Melaka and George Town (Malaysia)
Le Morne Cultural Landscape (Mauritius).

So Majuli, Sulamain-Too and the Bahai-sites are trying for the second time.

Below the list Unesco has published today in a press release about the sites that will be discussed in Québec.

Natural properties:
- Quarry of the Fabrica Nacional de Cementos S.A. (FANCESA), Cal Orck'O, Sucre, Departamento Chuquisaca (Bolivia)
- an extension to the Pirin National Park (Bulgaria)
- The Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Canada)
- Mount Sanqingshan National Park (China)
- Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems (France)
- Surtsey (Iceland)
- Bradyseism in Phlegraean Area (Italy)
- Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan)
- Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico),
- Hovsgol Lake and its Watershed (Mongolia)
- "The Putorana Plateau" Nature Complex (Russian Federation)
- Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland)
- Socotra Archipelago (Yemen).

Cultural properties:
- Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra – Towns of southern Albania, exceptional testimonies of well-preserved Ottoman settlements in the Balkan region, an extension (Albania)
- Cultural Landscape of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- São Francisco Square in the city of São Cristóvão (Brazil)
- The Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia)
- Fujian Tulou (China)
- The Stari Grad Plain (Croatia)
- Urban Historic Scenary Camagüey (Cuba)
- Spa of Luhačovice – area with a collection of historic spa buildings and spa-related facilities (Czech Republic)
- Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)
- The work of Vauban (France)
- Housing Estates in the Berlin Modern Style (Germany)
- System of Fortification at the Confluence of the Rivers Danube and Váh in Komárno – Komárom (Hungary / Slovakia)
- Mountain Railways of India (serial extension to include Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR)) (India)
- River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra River in Assam (India)
- Cultural Landscape of Bali Province (Indonesia)
- The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iranian Azarbayjan ((Islamic Republic of Iran)
- The Triple-arch Gate at Dan (Israel)
- Bahá'i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee (Israel)
- Mantua and Sabbioneta (Italy)
- Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology (Japan)
- Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests (Kenya)
- Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain (Kyrgyzstan)
- Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca: Melaka and George Town (Malaysia)
- Le Morne Cultural Landscape (Mauritius)
- Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco (Mexico)
- León Cathedral (Nicaragua)
- The Kuk Early Agricultural Site (Papua New Guinea)
- San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano (San Marino)
- Al-Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih) (Saudi Arabia)
- Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area (Slovakia)
- Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (extension to Altamira Cave) (Spain)
- Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape (Switzerland / Italy)
- The Antonine Wall (extension to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire) (United Kingdom)
- Chief Roi Mata's Domain (Vanuatu)

I've visted

Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems
New Caledonia is a superb destination, we hitch hiked around the smaller islands on a freight ship. It is a bit strange that only the reefs are mentioned when the whole ecosystem especially the tropical pine forests is so unique.

Urban Historic Scenery Camagüey
A nice city to visit, but more because of its Cubaness rather than anything intrinsically special. Doesn't seem to add much extra to the other Cuban cities already inscribed.

Cultural Landscape of Bali Province
We have been to Bali 4 times in the last 20 years. Each time I am shocked at both the changes and how the "specialness" of the culture miraculously survives. Definitely deserve inscription.

Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca: Melaka and George Town
We visited both cities in 1989. Melaka had quite an intact Dutch/Portuguese, small scale colonial atmosphere a bit like Galle or Cochin. Georgetown had a very much more "Imperial Britain" feel to it. Considering the changes in Malaysia in the last 20 years I probably wouldn't recognize either city.

Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (extension to Altamira Cave)
I can't bring myself to count the copy of Altamaria as a real visit so I am happy with this extension. There are a number of superb caves in the Basque mountains. The compulsory guides are good and we had the caves to ourselves!

george town penang - still the same.
beautiful architectures.. multi cultures.. lovely food.