UNESCO adds Namibia's Sea of Sand to list

PHNOM PENH - The 37th session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) on Friday inscribed the Namib Sand Sea natural site on the World Heritage List.

"I'd like to congratulate Namibia for the inscription of the Namib Sand Sea on the World Heritage List," Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, Chairman of the 37th WHC session, said at the session.

The Namib Sand Sea is a unique coastal fog desert with a diverse range of large, shifting dunes, according to a press release of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is an advisory body for UNESCO on natural world heritage sites.

The site lies along the arid African coast of the South Atlantic and is contained within Namibia's Namib-Naukluft Park and is a place of outstanding natural beauty where atmospheric conditions provide exceptional visibility of the landscape by day and the dazzling southern hemisphere sky at night.

IUCN said that before conservation management began, the area was protected for diamond-mining potential, but this was never realized.

"Key issues today include managing the increasing demand for visitor access to pristine areas and preventing mineral exploration," it said.

The World Heritage Committee is currently holding its 37th session in Phnom Penh to consider inscribing 30 new properties on the World Heritage List. The session will last until June 27.

Roni Amelan, UNESCO's spokesman, said early this week that a half of the 30 candidate sites are likely to be inscribed on the list during the session.