East coast wetlands added to UK’s list of potential World Heritage sites

East coast wetlands added to UK’s list of potential World Heritage sites - RSPB

England’s east coast wetlands, “a habitat with super-powers”, have become one of just five new sites added to the UK’s ‘Tentative List’ of World Heritage sites
An independent expert panel convened by government described the application as delivering “a clear and convincing case for the potential to demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value”
Inclusion on the list will enable a full proposal to be developed alongside local communities and conservation organisations, and submitted to UNESCO for consideration over the coming years.

Wetlands along the east coast of England, from the Humber to the Thames, have successfully been added to the UK’s Tentative List of World Heritage sites.
England’s east coast wetlands will be added to the UK’s Tentative List of World Heritage sites along with just five other new sites, government has announced today [10th April 2023]. Inclusion on this exclusive list is the first stage towards joining UNESCO’s (United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage List, which recognises cultural and natural heritage across the globe considered to be of outstanding universal value to humanity. If accepted by UNESCO the east coast wetlands could join a list of some of the world’s most iconic sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos Islands and Mount Kilimanjaro.
The proposed site receiving backing from government brings together a coastal network of wetlands covering 170,000 hectares (two New York cities), from the RSPB's Blacktoft Sands reserve on Humber estuary in the North to RSPB Wallasea Island, Essex and coastal Kent reserves along the River Thames in the South. Well-known sites such as RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk and the National Trust's Blakeney National Nature reserve, Norfolk have both recently been featured in BBC’s Wild Isles series and would also be included.