Pinnacle Point Estate (Facebook)
The Pinnacle Point Site Complex in Mossel Bay is one of three sites that are lining up for World Heritage status this week.
This will happen at the 46th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage convention when the Committee will deliberate on whether Pinnacle Point will achieve World Heritage status.
The archaeological sites at Mossel Bay’s Pinnacle Point, which have revealed some of the earliest evidence for modern human behaviour, was declared a Provincial Heritage Site in 2013.
A Western Cape Government delegation joins colleagues from other provinces in New Delhi, India for this Session taking place from this week until the 31st of July.
South Africa has put forward two nominations, following years of rigorous stakeholder engagement, quality assurance, and international evaluation. Successful nominations will be protected under the World Heritage Convention and inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The nomination titled ‘The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa’ includes three Middle Stone Age sites that contribute significant evidence for understanding the origins of modern human behaviour.
The other sites under consideration are the Diepkloof Rock Shelter close to Elands Bay and Sibhudu Cave in KwaDukuza in KwaZulu Natal.
A number of sites across the world are also in danger of being removed.
Venice has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1987, but under threat from climate change and over-tourism, it recently imposed a fee on visitors staying only a day at peak times of year after risking addition to the unhappy club in 2023.
And after years facing down UNESCO over its Great Barrier Reef, Australia has pumped billions into improving water quality, cushioning the impacts of climate change on the coral and protecting endangered species.
London, meanwhile, had long pushed for construction of a highway tunnel passing near Stonehenge, which joined the World Heritage list in 1986 as “the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world” according to UNESCO.
British courts blocked an initial plan for the tunnel in July 2021 over concerns about the environmental impact on the site dating to between around 3,000 and 2,300 BC.
The 14-year Conservative government nevertheless kept pushing forward with the project, claiming the tunnel would protect Stonehenge by reducing traffic.
In Nepal, the Buddha’s birthplace of Lumbini, rediscovered in 1896 after long being lost to the jungle, is another sore point.
Added to the World Heritage list in 1997, it is now visited by millions of people each year.
Nelson Mandela
UNESCO will consider 25 new candidates for inclusion on the World Heritage list, including sites linked to the life of Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
 AFP
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