UNESCO adds sites in South Africa to World Heritage List!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently added more sites in South Africa to its prestigious World Heritage List. On 26 July 2024, the 46th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee proclaimed World Heritage status for two serial properties in South Africa, namely "The Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites" and "The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa". The inscription of these two serial properties, increases South Africa's list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to 12.

"The Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites"
The serial property represents the legacy of the South African struggle for human rights, liberation and reconciliation. It consists of fourteen component parts located around the country, all related to South Africa's political history in the 20th century. The sites include the following:
- The Union Buildings
- Constitution Hill
- Liliesleaf
- Sharpeville (comprising three component parts)
- Walter Sisulu Square
- 16 June 1976: The Streets of Orlando West
- University of Fort Hare and ZK Mathews House (comprising two component parts)
- Mqhekezweni
- Waaihoek
- Ohlange

"The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa"
This serial property contributes to the understanding of the origin of behaviourally modern humans, their cognitive abilities and cultures, and the climatic transitions that they survived. It is composed of three dispersed archaeological sites: the Diepkloof Rock Shelter close to Elands Bay, the Pinnacle Point Site Complex in Mossel Bay (Western Cape) and the Sibhudu Cave in KwaDukuza (KwaZulu Natal).

Two new UNESCO biosphere reserves in Zambia and Zimbabwe!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) has approved the designation of 11 new biosphere reserves in 9 countries, including the Kafue Flats Biosphere Reserve in central and southern Zambia and the Chimanimani Biosphere Reserve in eastern Zimbabwe. With the new designations, the World Network of Biosphere Reserves totals 738 biosphere reserves in 134 countries, including 22 transboundary sites (90 sites in 33 countries in Africa). These additions were decided by the 34th session of the International Co-ordinating Council, the governing body UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme, which is composed of 34 representatives of UNESCO Member States. The Council was meeting from 13 to 17 June 2022 at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris.



The Kafue Flats Biosphere Reserve in central and southern Zambia has a size of more than 2,600,000 ha and cuts across various districts that are of archaeological and historical significance, as well as a Ramsar site and an Important Bird Area. The biosphere reserve is home to over 400 bird species and several mammal species, such as zebra, buffalo, hippopotamus and the endemic Kafue lechwe.



The Chimanimani Biosphere Reserve in eastern Zimbabwe comprises a mosaic of mountains, forests, grasslands and shrubs, along with freshwater ecosystems. The landscape extends into Mozambique, forming part of a proposed transboundary biosphere reserve that would extend into the East African montane ecosystem, which is a global biodiversity hotspot

Rwanda: The Gishwati-Mukura Landscape has been named an UNESCO biosphere reserve!

The Gishwati-Mukura landscape in Rwanda’s Western Province has been named among the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during a session of the International Co-coordinating Council of the Man and Biosphere Programme held on 28 October 2020. The Gishwati-Mukura landscape joins the Volcanoes Biosphere Reserve in north-west Rwanda, which was inducted into the network in 1983. Speaking on the UNESCO designation, Belise Kariza, Chief Tourism Officer, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said:

"As Rwanda's newest national park, the Gishwati-Mukura landscape is incredibly beautiful and rich in unique and valuable biodiversity. Rwanda  has been working to protect and restore the area by investing in nature based solutions and forest landscape restoration. I commend the efforts of all partners whose tireless work has led to the biosphere reserve status we celebrate today. Conservation not only preserves our natural heritage for future generations, but also plays an important role in fostering ecotourism as a pillar of economic development."

The Gishwati-Mukura National Park was gazetted as Rwanda's fourth national park in 2016. The Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a government department that integrates all government agencies responsible for the attraction, retention and facilitation of investments in Rwanda's economy, took over its management in 2019. The park is made up of two separate forests – the larger Mukura and smaller Gishwati – which are located within the landscape. The forests sit on the ridge which divides the Congo and Nile water catchment areas, along the biodiverse Albertine Rift.

North West Province: Marico is South Africa's 10th UNESCO Biosphere Reserve!

The Marico Biosphere Reserve, located in South Africa's North West Province, has been added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by the members of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) Council. The official announcement for the inclusion of the area was made at the 30th International Coordinating Council sessions of Man and Biosphere Programme in Indonesia (23 - 28 July 2018). South Africa's 10th UNESCO Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 447 268.48 ha and comprises a unique freshwater ecosystem which includes the Molemane, Molopo and Marico river systems. It is home to 73 species of mammal such as African elephants, black rhinoceros and lions. The main economic activities are subsistence agriculture, livestock, game ranching and tourism.
 

South Africa: The ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape has been inscripted as a World Heritage Site!

At its 41st session taking place in Krakow, Poland (02-12 July 2017), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee has inscripted the ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape in South Africa as a World Heritage Site. The landscape (959,100ha) is located in the Dawid Kruiper District Municipality in the Northern Cape. It covers the entire Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (KGNP) and forms part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which is bordered by Botswana and Namibia in the east and west respectively.

The ‡Khomani and related San people are unique in that they descend directly from an ancient population that existed in southern Africa some 150,000 years ago, the ancestors of the entire human race.
The red dunes of the ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape are strongly associated with this unique culture stretching from the Stone Age to the present, thus making it a landscape that has changed little from a time long ago when humans were mainly hunter gatherers.  The ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape has been home to at most a few hundred people who have survived life in the extreme desert landscape of the southern Kalahari through their knowledge of the land. Particular to their practices is their ways of physically defining the land through designated uses of the different parts; how their movements were organised as well as other significant cultural practices. (via https://www.environment.gov.za)

The ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape is South Africa's ninth World Heritage Site. The other eight include the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa, Maloti-Drakensberg Park (Transboundary with Lesotho), Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, Vredefort Dome, Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, Robben Island Museum, iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas.

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Garden Route declared an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve!

South Africa's Garden Route has been declared an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve by the members of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) Council at a meeting in Paris on 14 June 2017. The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) is located within the Cape Floristic biodiversity hotspot region along the southern coast of South Africa. It has a total area of 698,363 ha (212,375 ha core, 288,032 ha buffer, 197,956 ha transition) and a population of 450,624 people. The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve includes the Tsitsikamma, Goukamma and Robberg Marine protected areas, Wilderness Lake Ramsar site, Garden Route National Park and two components of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage site: the Nelson Bay Cave and the Langkloof Valley, this latter being critically endangered.
The municipalities included in the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) are the Eden District Municipality and Sarah Baartman District Municipality as well as the local municipalities of George, Knysna, Bitou, Kouga and Koukamma.
The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) is the ninth such reserve to be declared in South Africa.

South Africa: Cape floral heritage site expands!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has approved the extension of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site. The approval was granted by the 39th Session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee taking place in Bonn, Germany (28 June - 08 July 2015). The extension almost doubles the size of the world heritage site from 553 000 hectares to 1 094 742 hectares and includes Table Mountain National Park, Agulhas complex, Langeberg complex, Anysberg Nature Reserve, Swartberg complex, Baviaanskloof complex and the Garden Route complex.

The extended Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site is one of the richest areas for plants when compared to any similar sized area in the world. It represents less than 0.5% of the area of Africa but is home to nearly 20% of the continent's flora with some 69% of the 9000 identified plant species being endemic to the area.

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South Africa welcomes the designation of two new Biosphere Reserves!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on 09 June 2015 approved the designation of the Magaliesberg and Gouritz Cluster ecosystems as Biosphere Reserves.
Biosphere Reserves are sites of terrestrial and marine ecosystems designated under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme, where people share a sustainable way of living with nature and innovative practices are tested in co-operation with local inhabitants with the aim of reconciling conservation of biodiversity with sustainable utilisation. The zone includes strictly protected areas at the core, which are typically surrounded by buffer zones where conservation is emphasised, but where people also live and work.

The Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve covers approximately 360 000 ha and is located between the Pretoria and Johannesburg in the east and Rustenburg in the west, with approximately 262 000 people living within the designated area. In addition, the area is endowed with scenic beauty, unique natural features, rich cultural heritage value. It is also of high archaeological interest as it includes the Cradle of Humankind, which is part of the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa World Heritage Site with 4 million years of history. The area contains rich floral biodiversity, a number of faunal species, and over 45% of the total bird species of Southern Africa.
The second newly designated Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve area covers an area of more than three million hectares and straddles the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces. The area is globally unique as it is the only area in the world where three recognised biodiversity hotspots - the Fynbos, Succulent Karoo and Maputoland-Tongoland-Albany hotspots - converge.
The entire biosphere domain falls within the Cape Floristic Kingdom which is the smallest, but one of the richest of the six floral kingdoms in the world, and the only one found entirely within the boundaries of one country.  This Reserve is home to high levels of endemic plant species, threatened invertebrates and butterfly species. It provides a migratory route for large mammals and serves as a nursery for marine species.  Due to its immense historical significance, the biosphere reserve includes three components of the internationally renowned Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site. (via environment.gov.za)

Existing Biosphere Reserves in South Africa are:

• Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve (Western Cape Province, designated 1998)
• Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve (Western Cape Province, designated 2000)
• Waterberg Biosphere Reserve (Limpopo Province, designated 2001)
• Kruger-to-Canyons Biosphere Reserve (Limpopo Province and Mpumalanga,     designated 2001)
• Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve (Western Cape Province, designated 2007)
• Vhembe Biosphere Reserve (Limpopo Province, designated May 2009)

South Africa: World Heritage Site uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park extended into Lesotho

The World Heritage Committee decided during its 37th Committee Session in Cambodia (17 - 27 June 2013) to inscribe the Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho as an extension to the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in South Africa. The World Heritage Site's new name is Maloti Drakensberg Transboundary World Heritage Site.

Sehlabathebe National Park is covering 6,550 hectare and consists of a spectacularly beautiful watershed area that hosts flora and fauna of scientific importance, such as the Maloti Minnow, a critically endangered fish species only to be found in the Park, the Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) and the Bearded Vulture (Gyps barbatus). The park's African Alpine tundra ecosystem with its 250 endemic plant species significantly enhances the value of uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. It also features important rock paintings made by the San people who have been living on the site for 4,000 years.

Namibia gets second World Heritage Site: The Namib Sand Sea

The Namib Sand Sea was declared Namibia's second World Heritage Site during the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee in Cambodia (16 - 27 June 2013). Last year, the Namibia National Commission for UNESCO secretariat submitted the area to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which is evaluating natural heritage nominations for the World Heritage List on behalf of the World Heritage Committee. Namibia's first natural site to be inscribed on the World Heritage List is part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, south of the Kuiseb River in central Namibia.

Namib Sand Sea (Namibia) is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog. Covering an area of over three million hectares and a buffer zone of 899,500 hectares, the site is composed of two dune systems, an ancient semi-consolidated one overlain by a younger active one. The desert dunes are formed by the transportation of materials thousands of kilometres from the hinterland, that are carried by river, ocean current and wind. It features gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, inselbergs within the sand sea, a coastal lagoon and ephemeral rivers, resulting in a landscape of exceptional beauty. Fog is the primary source of water in the site, accounting for a unique environment in which  endemic invertebrates, reptiles and mammals adapt to an ever-changing variety of microhabitats and ecological niches. (UNESCOPRESS 21 June 2013)

Namibia's other World Heritage Site is Twyfelfontein, which got inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2007.

To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention". Please visit the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's website for more information about the critiria for selection.

Rwanda: Four genocide memorial sites now on the UNESCO World Heritage ‎List

The UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation, elevated four genocide memorial sites in Rwanda into the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These sites and memorial centers include the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Site in Kigali, the Ntarama Genocide Memorial Site in the Bugesera District as well as the Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre in the Murambi district in southern Rwanda and the Bisesero Genocide Memorial Site in the Karongi District in the country's Western Province.
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention". Please visit the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's website for more information about the critiria for selection.

Namibia: "Namib Sand Sea" submitted for nomination as a World Heritage Site

update (19 Feb 2013): Namibian newspaper "New Era" is again reporting about the possible declaration of the Namib Sand Sea as a World Heritage Site in its online edition (19 Feb 2013). According to the newspaper, an UNESCO evaluation mission visited the Namib Sand Sea in September 2012 and also submitted a report to the Board of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but will only by June 2013 let Namibia know if site will get declared a World Heritage Site.

Namibia's newspaper "New Era" is reporting in its online edition (17 April 2012) that Namibia has submitted the "Namib Sand Sea" for nomination as a World Heritage Site. The newspaper qoutes the Chairperson of the Namibia National Commission for UNESCO, Dr Marius Kudumo, saying that the nomination dossier has already been sent to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which is evaluating natural heritage nominations, and that it is expected to be considered by the World Heritage Committee in 2013.

The "Namib Sand Sea" covers an area of about 34,000km² and lies within the Namib-Naukluft National Park, south of the Kuiseb River in central Namibia. It is one of the world's oldest and largest sand deserts and known for its vast panoramas of majestic dune-scapes.
Twyfelfontein, which was declared as a World Heritage Site in 2007, is currently Namibia's only official World Heritage Site.
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the     "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention". Please visit the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's website for more information about the critiria for selection.

South Africa: National Braai Day at the 24 Sept 2009 (Heritage Day)

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New Biosphere Reserve in South Africa - Vhembe

International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB-ICC) just added 22 new sites from 17 countries to the UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) which now counts 553 sites in 107 countries. One of the new reserves is in South Africa.

Vhembe, South Afica is world renowned for its rich cultural and biological diversity. It includes northern part of the Kruger National Park, Makuleke Wetlands Ramsar Site, the Soutpansberg and Blouberg bio-diversity hot spots, as well as the Mapungube Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site and the Makgabeng Plateau with more than 1000 rock art sites. Human activities in the site are predominately agricultural, including production of subtropical fruits and vegetables, cattle and game farming and hunting. The Venda, Shangaan and Sepedi people, who are the main population group in the area, have a rich history of traditional indigenous knowledge ranging from wood carving and drum making to traditional healing. [src]

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