The five new sites included two natural sites, one in France and one in Iceland, a mixed — natural and cultural — site in Brazil, and two cultural sites in Burkina Faso and Iraq.

The Unesco’s World Heritage Committee began its meeting at the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 30.

The committee also approved the extension of the transboundary natural and cultural heritage site of the Ohrid region (Albania/North Macedonia).

The new natural sites are:

French Austral Lands and Seas (France) — The French Southern Lands and Seas comprise the largest of the rare emerged land masses in the southern Indian Ocean: the Crozet Archipelago, the Kerguelen Islands, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Islands as well as 60 small sub-Antarctic islands, the Unesco committee said. This “oasis” in the middle of the Southern Ocean covers an area of more than 67 million hectares and supports one of the highest concentrations of birds and marine mammals in the world. In particular, it has the largest population of King Penguins and Yellow-nosed albatrosses in the world, the Unesco panel added.

Vatnajökull National Park — This iconic volcanic region in Iceland covers an area of over 1.4 million hectares, nearly 14 per cent of Iceland’s territory. It numbers 10 central volcanoes, eight of which are subglacial. Two of these are among the most active in Iceland, the panel said.

The new mixed site, covering culture and biodiversity, chosen by the panel is Paratyand Ilha Grande in Brazil. Located between the Serra da Bocaina mountain range and the Atlantic Ocean, this cultural landscape includes the historic centre of Paraty, one of Brazil’s best-preserved coastal towns, as well as four protected natural areas of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, one of the world’s five key biodiversity hotspots, the Unesco committee noted.

In the late 17th century, Paraty was the end-point of the Caminho do Ouro (Gold Route), along which gold was shipped to Europe. Its port also served as an entry point for tools and African slaves, sent to work in the mines, the committee said.

One of the new cultural sites chosen is the Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso. This property has five elements located in different provinces of the country. It includes about 15 standing, natural-draught furnaces, several other furnace structures, mines and traces of dwellings, the committee said.

Douroula, which dates back to the 8th century BCE, is the oldest evidence of the development of iron production found in Burkina Faso. The other components of the property — Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy — illustrate the intensification of iron production during the second millennium CE, the panel added.

The other new cultural heritage site is Babylon in Iraq. Situated 85km south of Baghdad, the property includes the ruins of the city which, between 626 and 539BCE, was the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It includes villages and agricultural areas surrounding the ancient city. Its remains, outer and inner-city walls, gates, palaces and temples, are a unique testimony to one of the most influential empires of the ancient world, the committee said. The seat of successive empires, under rulers such as Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon represents the expression of the creativity of the Neo-Babylonian Empire at its height. The city’s association with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—the Hanging Gardens—has also inspired artistic, popular and religious culture on a global scale, the committee added.

Meanwhile, the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region was given an extension by the Unesco heritage committee. The part of Lake Ohrid located in Northern Macedonia and its hinterland, including the town of Ohrid, has been inscribed on the World Heritage List since 1979.

With this extension, the site now encompasses the northwestern — Albanian — part of Lake Ohrid, the small Lin Peninsula and the strip of land along the shoreline that connects the peninsula to the Macedonian border. The peninsula is the site of the remains of an early Christian church founded in the middle of the 6th century. In the shallow waters near the shores of the lake, three sites testify to the presence of prehistoric pile dwellings.

The 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee continues until July 10.