Unesco world heritage site News

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Rainbow over Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Photo credit: Rhett Ayers Butler.

Just as Raja Ampat fetches UNESCO Biosphere Reserve title, nickel mining looms

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Oct 2025

Indonesia aims to redraw UNESCO site boundaries to allow geothermal projects

Hans Nicholas Jong 30 Sep 2025

Nepal’s Supreme Court halts industrial development in Buddha’s birthplace

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 29 Aug 2025
An Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea). These long-lived tortoises are found on both Assomption island and the neighboring island of Aldabra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Image courtesy of Celina Chien/ Overstories.

Green groups oppose Qatari luxury resort near pristine world heritage site

Malavika Vyawahare 3 Jun 2025
River Bagmati flowing through a religious site.

Supreme Court decision on saving Kathmandu rivers stirs up heated reactions

Abhaya Raj Joshi 23 Sep 2024

Six new natural sites added to UNESCO World Heritage List

Shreya Dasgupta 2 Aug 2024
A protest in Phungling, a town of 29,000 people, where roads, restaurants and businesses were closed entirely.

In Nepal, a cable car in a sacred forest sparks swift, and controversial, direct action

Alice Millington 31 Jul 2024

A Guatemalan reserve turns from civil war refuge to deforestation hotspot

Bobby Bascomb 22 Jul 2024
The Chocolate Hills of Bohol Island in the central Philippines are a sprawling geological wonder, shaped by nature millions of years ago.

Resort in Philippines’ protected Chocolate Hills sparks uproar, probes

Keith Anthony Fabro 2 Apr 2024
A woodpecker in Chitwan National Park.

Cable car proposal is Nepal’s latest plan to commercialize national parks

Abhaya Raj Joshi 29 Mar 2024
A Bengal tiger in neighboring India.

Nepal mulls policy shift to allow hotels back into tiger strongholds

Abhaya Raj Joshi 29 Mar 2024

In Nepal’s Chitwan, tourist pools spell possible trouble for environment & wildlife

Abhaya Raj Joshi 30 Jan 2024

Smallholders and loggers push deeper into Sumatra’s largest park

Jeremy Hance 29 Nov 2023
Posito Daom, a Pala'wan, pauses on his descent to the lowlands to sell chayote cultivated using the no-till method, a sustainable practice that avoids turning over and disturbing the soil, according to studies.

Indigenous farmers’ hard work protects a Philippine hotspot, but goes overlooked

Keith Anthony Fabro 16 Nov 2023
Small children from Rira village stand by the roadside near their humble home.

World Heritage Site listing for Ethiopian park leads to eviction of farming community

Solomon Yimer 30 Oct 2023
Ubre Tiblak taps a tree for resin.

Indigenous community fighting a mine in Palawan wins a milestone legal verdict

Keith Anthony Fabro 25 Sep 2023
A black-headed ibis

Tien Hai Nature Reserve latest battleground in Vietnam’s push for development

Michael Tatarski 22 Sep 2023

Annual Adam’s Peak pilgrimage leaves Sri Lanka biodiversity site littered

Malaka Rodrigo 28 Jun 2023
A lioness with cubs

Return of the lions: Large protected areas in Africa attract apex predator

Petro Kotzé 13 Jun 2023
The purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), an ancient species that lived during the dinosaurs, calls small crevices around rocky streams home. Landslides can alter their habitats drastically. Image by David V Raju via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge

Spoorthy Raman 22 May 2023

Targeting 3% of protected areas could accelerate progress on 30×30 goals, says Global Conservation’s Jeff Morgan

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 May 2023

New zipline on Rio’s Sugarloaf raises outcry from conservationists

Sarah Brown 19 Apr 2023
West African lioness Florence with one of her cubs.

Video of rare West African lion cubs sparks hope for the population

Liz Kimbrough 17 Mar 2023
Boats in Lake Malawi National Park.

Construction begins on controversial water project inside Lake Malawi National Park

Charles Mpaka 4 Jul 2022
A Komodo dragon.

‘No’ to corporate-driven tourism development in Komodo National Park (commentary)

Venansius Haryanto 19 Apr 2022

A mayor in the Philippines took on a mine, and lost her job over it

Keith Anthony Fabro 11 Feb 2022
Solitary figure in a partly cultivated field, Nimba mountain range in the background. Image by Maarten van der Bent via Flickr CC BY-SA-2.0

Liberian villagers threaten to leave mining agreement, citing broken promises

Varney Kamara 27 Jan 2022

In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site

Tom Fawthrop 10 Dec 2021

Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas

Sachi Kondo 18 Nov 2021
Hammerheads. Photo credit: Yves Lefèvre

Protecting Colombia’s shark paradise: Q&A with Sandra Bessudo

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Aug 2021

Drugs and agriculture cause deforestation to skyrocket at Honduran UNESCO site

Karen Paredes, Leonardo Guevara, Lesly Frazier 30 Apr 2021

Deforestation rises in Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Park as cattle invade

Antonio José Paz Cardona 2 Apr 2021

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