17 November 2004

The impact of climate change on some of the world’s unique and irreplaceable areas will be highlighted tomorrow as petitions from three developing countries are handed in to the World Heritage Committee in Paris.

The petitions ask the Committee urgently to place the Belize Barrier Reef, the Huarascán National Park (Peru) and the Sagarmatha National Park (Nepal) World Heritage Sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger as a result of climate change.

Danger-listing is a legal mechanism under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention requiring an increased level of protection where the best parts of the planet are facing serious and significant threats. State Parties to the Convention have a legal obligation to transmit World Heritage Sites to future generations.

Huarascán National Park is located in the Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes, the world's highest tropical mountain range, with Mount Huascáran rising to 6,768 m above sea-level. It is the home of the spectacled bear and the Andean condor. More than 20% of the glacial coverage has been lost in the Peruvian Andes since 1968, and melting glaciers form lakes which could burst if action is not taken. The lead petitioner is Foro Ecológico del Peru.

Read the petition

Read the press release from the Climate Justice Programme