While last month saw the announcement of new additions to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists—which included an impressive array of knowledge, practices, and traditions, from a centuries-old irrigation network in the United Arab Emirates to the tree beekeeping culture of Poland and Belarus—this month, the opportunity to submit public comments on U.S. nominations to the World Heritage List closes January 26, 2021.
The properties currently proposed for the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List include: Serpent Mound in Ohio, Central Park in New York, and Civil Rights Movement Sites in Alabama among the cultural sites, and Big Bend National Park in Texas, multiple sites in Central California, and White Sands National Monument in New Mexico among the natural sites.
See the Federal Register for the full list and additional information.
Comments must be submitted by:
- Mail to: Jonathan Putnam, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.
- Email to: jonathan_putnam@nps.gov. Phone: (202) 354-1809.
The World Heritage List is an international list of cultural and natural properties nominated by the signatories to the World Heritage Convention (1972), an international treaty for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage sites of global significance. Member nations voluntarily nominate their own sites embracing superlative natural or cultural attributes. Among other requirements, the sites must be authentic and meet at least one of several highly stringent criteria for universal value.
There are currently 24 World Heritage Sites within the United States; most U.S. World Heritage Sites are administered by the National Park Service.