The World Heritage Committee session this year has added 26 new sites to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
This includes five natural World Heritage Sites: Lakes of Ounianga (Chad); Sangha Trinational (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo,); Chengjiang Fossil Site (China); Western Ghats (India); and Lena Pillars Nature Park (Russia).
Rock Islands Southern Lagoon of Palau was inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site.
A total of 20 cultural sites were inscribed during the session: Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain); Major Mining Sites of Wallonia (Belgium); Rio de Janeiro, Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea (Brazil); The Landscape of Grand-Pré (Canada); Site of Xanadu (China); Historic Town Grand-Bassam (Ivory Coast); Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin (France); Margravial Opera House Bayreuth (Germany); Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy (Indonesia); Masjed-e Jamé of Isfahan and Gonbad-e Qabus (Iran); Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel : The Nahal Me'arot/Wadi el-Mughara Caves (Israel); Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (Malaysia); Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage (Morocco); Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine); Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications (Portugal); Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes (Senegal); Heritage of Mercury Almadén and Idrija (Slovenia/Spain); Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland (Sweden); and Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük (Turkey).
Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine), two of Mali's World Heritage sites -- Timbuktu and the Tomb of Askia, Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City (UK), and the Portobelo-San Lorenzo Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama were added to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.
Two conservation success stories were recognized by the World Heritage Committee allowing for them to be removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger: Fort and Shalamar Gardens in the Pak city of Lahore, and the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.
The process concluded on Monday in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, where the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting is being held, with the inscription of Russia's Lena Pillars Nature Park as World Heritage Site, UNESCO said in a press release.
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December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.