During the past week the UNESCO World Heritage Committee had gathered in Qatar to discuss and take decisions on World Heritage sites. The Advisory Body on nature, were there to give advice to the Committee, which consisted of 21 States Parties. Around 20 specialists of World Heritage conservation make up the IUCN delegation this year. They were from diverse backgrounds and different regions of the world – and IUCN gave us the opportunity to pick their brains. IUCN asked to send in our burning World Heritage questions on Twitter.

The questions posed to delegates via twitter were answered by them.  Five questions along with the answers were published on the blog of IUCN, which includes the question of Indian Botanists.

The question put by Indian Botanists as mentioned above was answered by Cyril F. Kormos. Cyril Kormos is Vice-Chair for World Heritage of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN-WCPA) and Vice-President for Policy at The WILD Foundation.

The reply of Kormos to our question as posted on the blog of IUCN is reproduced below.

Indian Botanists: What will be the role of local forest-dwellers in the IUCN World Heritage Outlook assessment programme with regards to Great Himalayan National Park?

CYRIL KORMOS: Greater Himalayan National Park is a nominated site this year, and the World Heritage Committee will shortly take its decision on whether or not to inscribe it. The IUCN World Heritage Outlook assesses all existing natural sites, not those on the ‘Tentative List’, so no Conservation Outlook Assessment has been completed for this site.
We do welcome input from all World Heritage key stakeholders so that we can recognise well-managed sites and identify any actions needed to support sites that are facing threats. See our World Heritage Outlook for more information or to provide input, and keep an eye out over the coming months as the website continues to evolve.

At the 38th annual World Heritage Committee meeting, on 15th June, 2014 in Doha, Qatar, IUCN recommended four new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List, including India’s Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area. The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) is located in the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India. Initially constituted in 1984, GHNP was formally declared a National Park in 1999, covering an area of 754.4 sq kms.