Helsinki, 13 December, 2001 (IUCN) - Following the advice of IUCN - The World Conservation Union, the World Heritage Committee has inscribed six new natural sites on the prestigious World Heritage List and added substantial extensions to three others. The new sites include snow-capped Swiss Alps, Brazilian tropical grasslands in the Cerrado ecoregion, the Caribbean's richest mountain forest in Eastern Cuba, and the forests of the Siberian tiger (see Annex I).

Following today's additions, 167 sites have been inscribed on the World Heritage List for their natural values including international icons such as the Serengeti, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef.

With the prestige of World Heritage listing comes responsibility. The underlying principle is that sites that are inscribed on the List become the heritage of all the world's people. Therefore, national governments, under the principles of sovereignty, have a responsibility to protect these sites for humankind, yet all the signatories to the Convention undertake to help the individual countries protect their World Heritage sites.

IUCN, as Advisory Body for natural heritage to the World Heritage Committee, undertakes technical evaluations of each site nominated by State Parties for inclusion in the List. The evaluations involve extensive consultation with IUCN Regional and Country Offices and with IUCN's six Commissions, the Union's worldwide volunteer networks of conservation experts, as well as with field missions to each site. Field missions, carried out mainly by members of IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), review the management of nominated sites, meet with local people to understand their views on the nomination, and verify information on the ground. Mission reports and expert opinions are reviewed by the IUCN Secretariat, which prepares the final advice for the World Heritage Committee. Generally, the World Heritage Committee follows IUCN's advice on the suitability of the sites for inclusion on the List.

IUCN was instrumental in the initiation and drafting of the original World Heritage Convention which has been ratified by 167 countries as of 13 December 2001. In addition to the evaluation of sites nominated to the List, IUCN's role under the Convention involves reporting to the Committee on the state of conservation of existing sites and training natural heritage experts. In its capacity of Advisory Body, IUCN continues to play a role in the ongoing implementation and development of the Convention.

IUCN´s technical evaluations are available from: http://wcpa.iucn.org/pubs/pdfs/heritage/Heritage_Eval_rpt.pdf

IUCN and the World Heritage Convention: http://wcpa.iucn.org/theme/heritage/heritage.html

The World Heritage Convention: http://www.unesco.org/whc/

ANNEX I

The Sikhote Alin mountain range contains one the richest and most unusual temperate forests of the world. It is a mixing zone between taiga and the subtropics where southern species such as the tiger and Himalayan bear cohabit with northern species such as brown bear and lynx. The site runs form the peaks of the Sikote Alin to the Sea of Japan and is important for the survival of many endangered species such as the Amur tiger.

One of the most glaciated areas in the Alps, the site includes Europe’s largest glacier and a range of classic features resulting from glacial activity such as U-shaped valleys, cirques, horn peaks and moraines. The first natural World Heritage site for the Alps, Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn provides an outstanding geological record of the uplift and compression that formed the High Alps. The diversity of Alpine wildlife is represented in a range of alpine and sub-alpine habitats, and plant colonization in the wake of retreating glaciers provides an outstanding example of plant succession. The impressive vista of the North Wall of the High Alps, centred on the mountains of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, has played an important role in European literature and art.

The cliff exposures along the coast provide an almost continuous sequence of rock formations spanning the Mesozoic Era, or 185 million years of Earth’s history. The area’s important fossil sites and classic coastal geomorphological features have contributed to the study of Earth Sciences for over 300 years.

The two sites included in the designation contain flora and fauna and key habitats that characterize the Cerrado – one of the world’s oldest and most diverse tropical ecosystems. For millennia, the sites have acted as refuges for species during periods of climate change and will be vital for maintaining Cerrado biodiversity during future climate fluctuations.

Peaks of the Southern Atlantic Submarine Ridge form the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Rocas Atoll off the coast of Brazil. They represent more than half the island surface of the South Atlantic and their productive waters are extremely important breeding and feeding areas for tuna, sharks, turtles and marine mammals including endangered species such as the hawksbill turtle. The islands accommodate the largest concentration of tropical seabirds in the Western Atlantic Ocean. Baia de Golfinhos has an exceptional population of resident dolphins and at low tide the Rocas Atoll provides a spectacular seascape of lagoons and tidal pools teeming with fish.

Complex geology and varied topography have led to a diversity of ecosystems and species unmatched in the insular Caribbean and created one of the most biologically diverse tropical island sites on earth. Many of the underlying rocks are toxic to plants and so species must adapt in order to survive in these hostile conditions. This unique process of evolution has resulted in the development of many new species and the park is one of the most important sites in the Western Hemisphere for the conservation of endemic flora. Endemism of vertebrates and invertebrates is also very high.

The Galápagos Islands World Heritage site was expanded to include the 133,000km² Galápagos Marine Reserve. Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000km from the South American continent, the19 islands of the Galápagos have been called a unique ‘living museum and showcase of evolution’. Ongoing seismic activity and volcanism reflect the processes that formed the islands. Located at the confluence of three oceanic currents the Galápagos is a "melting pot" of marine species. These processes, along with the isolation of the islands, led to the development of unusual animal life – such as the land iguana, the giant tortoise and the many types of finches – which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, following his visit in 1835.

The Volcanoes of Kamchatka site has been enlarged to include the Kluchevskoy Nature Park, which includes some of the most active volcanoes on the peninsula. This is one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world, with a high density of active volcanoes, a variety of types, and a wide range of related volcanic features. The six sites included in the serial designation group together the majority of volcanic features of the Kamchatka peninsula. The interplay of volcanism with active glaciers forms a dynamic landscape of great beauty. The site contains high species diversity, including the world’s greatest known diversity of salmonoid fish and exceptional concentrations of sea otter, brown bear and Stellar’s sea eagle. The Committee recognised these biodiversity qualities by inscribing the whole site under natural criterion iv for outstanding species diversity and endangered species.

Southern Island National Park has been added to Kenya’s Lake Turkana National Parks World Heritage site. The most saline of Africa’s large lakes, Turkana is an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities. The three National Parks are a stopover point for migrant waterbirds and are important breeding grounds for Nile crocodile, hippopotamus and a range of venomous snakes. The Koobi Fora deposits, rich in mammalian, molluscan and other fossil remains, have contributed more to understanding paleoenvironments than any other site on the continent.