Norway wants Svalbard on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
In its white paper to Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, the Norwegian Government will go in for a nomination for Svalbard to the prestigious World Heritage List.
Status as a World Heritage Site is the highest international hallmark a territory can get and will put even more pressure on Norway in preserving the nature on Svalbard, news paper Verdens Gang writes.
It is not yet known which part or how much of Svalbard that will be on the World Heritage List. This will be decided during the nomination process. 65 percent of the land area and 87 percent of the territorial waters within the 12 nautical mile boundary is today protected by the Svalbard Environmental Law, aimed to preserve the archipelago’s unique nature and culture.
Svalbard has been on the tentative list for nomination for two years. An application for nomination will be ready earliest at the end of 2012, and will be considered by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in 2014. Seven places in Norway are already on the World Heritage List.
