The world's oldest and largest meteorite crater, part of Japan's northernmost island and two Norwegian fjords are among seven sites added to the UN World Heritage list this week.
The UN Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage committee, meeting in South Africa's port city of Durban, also extended two existing sites at India's Valley of Flowers National Park and Scotland's remote St. Kilda archipelago. The addition of the new sites brings UNESCO's World Heritage list to 160 natural sites and 24 mixed natural and cultural sites around the globe, the committee said in a statement.
South Africa's Vredefort Dome crater, about 120km southwest of Johannesburg, was described as both the largest and oldest meteorite crater on earth dating back 2,023 million years.
"It provides critical evidence of the earth's geological history and is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of the planet," the UNESCO committee said.
Japan's Shiretoko Peninsula in northeast Hokkaido was named as "an outstanding example of the interaction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems" and home to a number of threatened species of sea and migratory birds.
In Europe, the west Norwegian fjords Geirangerfjord and Naeroyfjord, northeast of Bergen, joined the list as two of the most majestically beautiful fjord landscapes in the world with steep crystalline rock walls, numerous waterfalls and glaciers. Egypt's Wadi Al-Hitan Whale Valley contains fossil remains of some of the earliest whales, UNESCO said.
"These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal," it said.
The UNESCO committee also selected a stretch of coastal areas in northeastern Mexico's Gulf of California which is especially rich in both plant and sea life and another coastal area in Panama's Coiba National Park, described as a particularly fertile region for the evolution of new species.
Thailand's Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, a tropical forest ecosystem seen as key to the survival of a number of endangered mammal, bird and reptile species, was also named to the list.
The World Heritage committee added India's Valley of Flowers National Park in the high western Himalayas to a site already established at nearby Nanda Devi National Park, and added a cultural heritage designation to Scotland's St. Kilda site in the Outer Hebrides to reflect the area's long history of human habitation.
Meanwhile, one of Europe's most spectacular cathedrals faces being stripped of its world heritage title unless city planners withdraw plans to build sky scrapers nearby.
Although the gothic spires of Cologne cathedral are among the world's most treasured historic gems, UNESCO chiefs have given the German city an ultimatum: either cancel plans to build three further 30-story blocks, or the building loses its prestige status.
Last year, UNESCO put the cathedral on its red-alert list of endangered world heritage sites, in response to plans to build the high-rise buildings near the cathedral.
This week, the UN body went a step further by giving Cologne a year to scrap plans to complete the buildings. UNESCO argues that the office blocks could spoil the dramatic views of the "endangered" site on the banks of the Rhine.
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