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« CURRENT EVENTS»
THE BALTIC JEWEL IN THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
CROWN
The 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee has decreed that the Kursh Spit should be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Documents have been prepared and submitted to UNESCO by GreenPeace Russia jointly with the Natural Heritage Preservation Fund. This action was supported by Dresden Technical University (Germany).
Kursh Spit is famous for its sand dunes, some of the world’s highest. Some are as high as 68 meters. The dunes form an unbroken strip – 70 km long and 300 meters to 1 km wide – along the entire Kursh Peninsula. Thanks to its geographical position and orientation, many bird species migrating from northwestern Russia, the Baltic Region and Finland to central and southern Europe fly over the spit. Up to 20 million birds fly over the spit yearly in spring and autumn. Many of these birds, including white-tailed sea eagles, fish hawk, and about ten other rare and endangered species (including ones listed in the Red Data Books of Russia, Europe and the IUCN Red Data List), stop here for rest and feeding.
The Kursh Spit is also rich with cultural heritage sites. Its unique landscape was formed both by natural processes and human activity. The time when the Kursiai tribe inhabited this land is long gone; however, its ethnographic heritage (personal belongings, household objects, fishing boats) remains intact. The avant-dune (or beach ridge protecting the spit from erosion), the defense constructions (faggots) to prevent sand from shifting, and various archaeological and religious remains, are all remarkable sites relating to history, science and art.
“The natural and cultural ensemble of the spit is unique in that it is a harmonious creation of people and nature” says GreenPeace representative Aleksei Butorin.
At the 24th World Heritage Committee session, the Ferapont Monastery and the Kazan Kremiln were also added to the World Heritage List of cultural sites. There are now 690 sites in 122 countries on the World Heritage List. Of these, 529 have the status of cultural sites, 138 – of natural sites, and 23 – of both natural and cultural sites.
Seventy-one projects from 43 countries were considered at the last UNESCO session.
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