Macchu Pichu, Peru, one of the world heritage sites threatened by logging. (Source: Lori VB/flikcr)
A report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released on Wednesday found that half of the 229 World Heritage sites are at risk, mostly from development. At least 114 of the sites — internationally recognized as being of outstanding importance for their natural habitats or their flora and fauna — are now subject to fossil fuel extraction concessions, or are threatened by other industrial activities.
The WWF urged companies to obey U.N. appeals to declare all Heritage sites “no go” areas for oil and gas exploration, mines, unsustainable timber production, and over-fishing. “We’re not opposing development, we’re opposing badly planned development,” said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International.
The report rates Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as under threat from mining and shipping, while Peru’s Macchu Pichu is threatened by logging. Others on the at-risk list include the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, Russia’s Kamchatka volcanoes, and the Everglades in the U.S.
According to Reuters, in 2003 the International Council of Mining and Metals, which comprises major firms, agreed to stay out of World Heritage sites. Some oil and gas firms, such as Total and Shell, have made similar commitments, but many have not.
Full protection of these irreplaceable sites should be made ironclad. Their priceless intrinsic value alone is enough. And factoring in that over 11 million people depend on these sites for food, water, shelter, and medicine, and that they enable ecotourism (including local jobs) worth billions of dollars, it would be disastrous to accept anything less.
Explicitly banning any harmful encroachments and enforcing the rules would be sufficient to safeguard many of them. In other cases, like ancient ruins in the Middle East threatened by ISIS, armed U.N. peacekeeping protection might be necessary, as Italy proposed in October.
Regardless of short-sighted opposition, we must ensure these sites are not just hollow names.
