Kerala - Kochi   

Western Ghats proposed as heritage site

KOCHI: If UNESCO votes in favour of the Western Ghats while deciding on new World Heritage Sites in 2010, Kerala will have something to cheer about.

The natural heritage sites of the State, namely the Eravikulam National Park and adjoining areas, including some Shola forests, Mathikettan and adjoining reserve forest, the Periyar region, including Ranni and Konni forest divisions, and the Silent Valley and neighbouring areas, are there on the tentative list submitted by India for consideration.

No site from Kerala has so far been included on the World Heritage Site list, though the Mattancherry Palace was proposed by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1998 for inclusion under the cultural category.

The tentative list, according to UNESCO, is an inventory of those properties which each country intends to consider for nomination. The “States Parties are encouraged to submit in their Tentative Lists, properties which they consider to be cultural and/or natural heritage of outstanding universal value and therefore suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List.”

Nominations to the list will not be considered unless the nominated property has already been included on the tentative list, according to UNESCO.

“The nominations made by the country, including that of the Western Ghats, will come up for consideration during the meeting of the World Heritage Committee to be held during early next year,” says Jagadish Krishnaswami, a fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).

The proposal for the Western Ghats was first submitted in 2006.

Later, the State governments were asked to prepare detailed dossiers for each site. ATREE was one of the agencies that supported the Union Ministry for Environment and Forest, the Wildlife Institute of India and many State governments in preparing the dossiers for nomination of various sites.

The list was updated last year.

The State government submitted its proposal for including the Western Ghats on the list, he said.

Once a site is declared a World Heritage Site, it will get global attention and more funds for management.

It will make the governments more committed to the protection of the sites, Mr. Krishnaswami said.

Currently, 27 sites from the country are on the list, including the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort, the Ajanta caves and the Kaziranga and Keladeo national parks.

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