What does the Great Barrier Reef have in common with the Great Wall of China, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe?
All four of these places – and over a thousand others mostly without the word "great" in their titles – are on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
According to the United Nations body, this makes their protection the common goal of humanity. As its website states, "World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located."
It's a worthy goal. In the decades since the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted, almost every nation on the planet has signed on and submitted its own list of treasures.
So how easy is it for a place to make the list, and how many sites does Australia have in it?
There are two types of World Heritage site: cultural and natural. To be considered, a site must meet at least one of ten selection criteria. These range from "a masterpiece of human creative genius" to "natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity."
Submitted sites are evaluated by expert bodies. Once their recommendations are in, the World Heritage Committee decides who makes the final cut.
For Australia, that process has created 19 World Heritage sites. They're dominated by 16 natural sites, though four of these are joint natural-cultural entries. Regionally, they're a bit lop-sided: six are at least partly in New South Wales, for example, while Victoria has only one.
From sites in city centres to those in remote locations, they're an appealing collection of attractions.
See the FULL LIST
Article by Tim Richards for Traveller
