Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in Busan, Republic of Korea, has granted emergency protection to three newly inscribed World Heritage sites and added three previously recognized sites to the List of World Heritage in Danger. These actions acknowledge serious threats posed by armed conflict, climate change, and other global crises to cultural and natural heritage.
The three newly inscribed sites under emergency protection include the Mount Amel Castles in southern Lebanon, a group of five fortresses from various historical periods. These castles, already under enhanced international humanitarian protection, have sustained extensive damage from ongoing conflicts, directly endangering their conservation.
Another site, Sebastia in the Occupied West Bank, preserves archaeological remains over 2,000 years old. It faces increasing pressures from regional conflict, development plans, and proposals for a national park that could divide the property.
The third is South Sudan's Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape, home to the world's largest known terrestrial mammal migration. This natural site is crucial to the region's cultural and linguistic diversity, sustained by ethnic groups through traditional herding, farming, and fishing. Its ecosystem is threatened by commercial poaching, wildlife trafficking, infrastructure development, and ongoing insecurity that disrupt conservation.
Additionally, three previously recognized World Heritage sites were added to the danger list. In Ukraine, the Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora have deteriorated during Crimea's occupation by Russia, where new construction and large-scale excavations threaten the site's authenticity.
In Lebanon, the ancient city of Tyre was added to the danger list due to ongoing hostilities that continue to threaten this important Mediterranean site.