• Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings from India is added to UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings, it ensembles bear testimony to the phases of modernization that Mumbai has undergone in the course of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Other sites in Maharashtra are:

• Ellora caves
• Ajanta caves
• Elephant caves
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus
• Western Ghats

India now houses totally 37 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

UNESCO World Heritage Site:

Is a landmark or area which is selected by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties download from collectiveray.

It came by Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage signed by UNESCO members.

It establish World Heritage Committee comprises of 15 State parties to convention.

Procedure

• Every State Party to this Convention shall, in so far as possible, submit to the World Heritage Committee an inventory of property forming part of the cultural and natural heritage, situated in its territory
• A country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites; the result is called the Tentative List.
• Next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File.
• The Nomination File is evaluated by the International council on monuments and sites and the World Conservation Union.
• These bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. The Committee meets once per year to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List and sometimes defers or refers the decision to request more information from the country which nominated the site.

Selection Criteria

Cultural criteria:

• Represents a masterpiece of human creative genius and cultural significance.
• Exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time, or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design.
• To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared.
• Is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history.
• Is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture, or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.
• Is directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.

Natural criteria:

• Contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.
• Is an outstanding example representing major stages of Earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
• Is an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems, and communities of plants and animals.
• contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

List of World Heritage in Danger:

A site may be added to the list of heritage site in danger if there are conditions that threaten the characteristics for which the landmark or area was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Such problems may involve armed conflict and war, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, or uncontrolled urbanization or human development.

Manas National park and group of Monuments at Hampi once listed in World heritage in danger, later it was removed by proper conservation.