Moscow
Some of the most iconic British cultural landmarks, like Stonehenge and the Lakes could lose their world heritage status, Mechtild Rossler, the director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre said.
“I really encourage the authorities of the UK to get everybody together and to see what the best solution would be because the warning was made several times.
These are the most outstanding places we have on Earth. If we are not capable of protecting these, for me the question is what will be left on this planet?” Rossler said, as quoted by The Guardian.
This warning comes ahead of the High Court’s imminent decision on whether a tunnel can be built underneath Stonehenge.
Earlier this year, UK Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps approved a ?1.7 billion ($2.4 billion) tunnel, part of a greater development project in the area.
This particular development was one of the reasons Rossler made the warning, according to The Guardian.
The United Kingdom already suffered the removal of Liverpool, with its iconic Victorian Docks, from the list of World Heritage Monuments earlier this year due to overdevelopment. Liverpool is not the first to be stripped of its World Heritage status.
Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary and the Elbe Valley in Dresden were also removed from the UNESCO list in 2007 and 2009, respectively.—AP
