France has submitted its nomination file for listing its sub-Antarctic islands by the World Heritage Convention: decision expected next year

The Terres australes antarctiques françaises (TAAF) has applied for the inscription of France’s sub-Antarctic islands (Amsterdam, Crozets, Kerguelen and St Paul) on the List of Natural Sites of UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention (WHC). The nomination file, submitted by France to the WHC in February this year, will be evaluated at the 43rd Session of the World Heritage Committee in July next year.

The French islands were first listed on the convention’s Tentative List in 2016 (click here for the French text for the La Réserve naturelle nationale des Terres Australes Françaises).

Read the announcement in French here and a description of the full nomination process here.

Critically Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis - endemic to Amsterdam Island, photograph by Roald Harivel

If the French nomination is successful next year, it will leave only the South Africa’s Prince Edward Islands without World Heritage status in the southern Indian Ocean. Following an unsuccessful nomination, South Africa withdrew its sub-Antarctic islands from its Tentative List.

Click here for a global list of World Heritage sites that support ACAP-listed species.

With thanks to Maëlle Connan.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 May 2018