Half the planet’s natural World Heritage Sites threatened by industry, WWF warns
China’s giant panda sanctuaries, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef among 114 Unesco-listed sites at risk, conservation group warns as it urges countries to declare them off-limits from exploitation
Almost half of all natural World Heritage Sites, including the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries in China, The Great Barrier Reef and Machu Picchu, are threatened by industrial activities such as mining, oil exploration and illegal logging, conservation group WWF has warned.
The 114 sites threatened, virtually half the total listed by Unesco, provide food, water, shelter and medicine to over 11 million people, according to a report commissioned by the WWF. The sites are meant to be protected for future generations.
“Despite the obvious benefits of these natural areas, we still haven’t managed to decouple economic development from environmental degradation,” WWF director general Marco Lambertini writes in a foreword to the report. “Instead, too often, we grant concessions for exploration of oil, gas or minerals, and plan large-scale industrial projects without considering social and environmental risks.”
Unesco – the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation – lists 197 “natural” and 32 “mixed” Heritage Sites in 96 countries around the world, alongside 802 cultural sites.