UNESCO has added 26 locations to its World Heritage List, including four new locations on the African continent and Aboriginal Land in Murujiga, Australia.
These four African sites are the DIY-GID-BIY cultural landscape of the Mandela Mountains (meaning “the destruction of the chief’s residence” in the MAFA language), a group of 16 archaeological sites distributed among seven villages in Cameroon; Guinea-Bijagós archipelago in the Peso, Omatíinhô, a continuous series of coastal and marine ecosystems; the mountains in southern Malawi are tilted and respected by the people of Yao, Mang’anja and Lhomwe. And the Gola-Tiwai complex in Sierra Leone, which includes the Gola Rainforest National Park and the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary.
Therefore, Africa now has 112 cultural properties as the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The committee also approved the expansion of the site from South Africa to Mozambique, creating approximately 1,545 square miles of transboundary nature park. According to a UNESCO announcement, seven other African countries are expected to nominate in 2027.
“Making Africa a priority is not a symbolic gesture. It is a concrete, everyday and long-term commitment due to the idea that Africans must be recognized for their historical, cultural and natural importance, as its historical, cultural and natural importance must be with its 19 new websites and 6 new jews spection specions. The world’s heritage.”
As the cultural sector of the United Nations, UNESCO’s recognition indicates that these cultural characteristics have global significance and therefore war and environmental degradation should be protected. One of the authority’s powers is to grant “temporary enhanced protection” to an endangered legacy, which promises to gain the highest levels of attack and immunity for military purposes. Earlier this month, the Trump administration withdrew from UNESCO for the second time, citing the group’s “severe social and cultural causes”, which also includes gender equality and climate sustainability.
“With the parties of 196 states, the World Heritage Convention is one of the most commonly ratified conventions in the world – for its impact and popularity in every corner of the world,” Azoulay added in her statement. “For the new websites engraved this year, this infamous responsibility bears a huge responsibility: to sustain life, protect and promote this particular heritage.”
