The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka was added to the World Heritage List by the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (WHC) at its 34th Session in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. This was a unanimous decision of the WHC.
The Sri Lankan nomination was the first to be considered among 32 nominations (6 natural, 24 cultural and 2 mixed - Sri Lanka and USA).
The Central Highlands, described by UNESCO as a “super biodiversity hotspot,” is home to an extraordinary range of flora and fauna, including several endangered species such as the western-purple-faced langur, the Horton Plains slender loris and the Sri Lankan leopard. Earlier this month, scientists captured the slender loris on camera after many feared it had already gone extinct. The flora of the Knuckles is so distinct that it is recognized as a separate floristic region within Sri Lanka. At least 10 of the 23 endemic bird species that make Sri Lanka an Endemic Bird Area, are also present in the Knuckles Range.
The area identified by UNESCO includes the Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles Conservation Forest. It is after a lapse of 19 years that a property in Sri Lanka has been inscribed on the World Heritage List; the previous property listed being the Dambulla Rock Temple as a World Heritage Site in 1991.
Deputy Minister of Environment Faiszer Musthapha stated that this decision is a resounding vote of confidence for Sri Lanka and the President by the international community. He hailed it as a victory for the people of Sri Lanka, who have suffered immensely from the debilitating impact of the scourge of terrorism that had plagued the island nation for almost three decades.
Heading a delegation to Brazil, the Deputy Minister Musthapha underscored the fact that the inscription of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka as a World Heritage Site would promote the government to mobilize additional resources, and allocate them for the further protection and conservation of the environmentally fragile areas of the site.
Sri Lanka has a total of eight World Heritage sites. The six cultural sites include the historic cities of Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Anuradhapura, Galle, Kandy and the temple in Dambulla. The Sinharaja Forest Reserve is the other natural site.
The World Heritage list currently includes 899 properties in 149 countries around the world that the committee deems as having “outstanding universal value.” The sites consist 696 cultural sites, 176 with natural significance and 27 that have both.
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