https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/31/more-than-100-natural-world-heritage-sites-degraded-by-human-activity-says-report
More than 100 of the world’s most precious natural assets are being severely damaged by encroaching human activities, according to a study examining direct human footprints and forest losses.
Natural world heritage sites are are identified by Unesco and include 229 sites around the world that are considered to have “outstanding universal values” that transcend national boundaries.
But, according to the new study, 63% of sites that could be analysed had experienced an increase in human pressures including encroaching roads, agriculture, infrastructure and settlements since 1993.
And, of the natural world heritage sites that contain forests, 91% of those analysed experienced some loss of those forests since 2000.
also
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/06/half-of-world-heritage-sites-threatened-by-development-says-wwf
Half of world heritage sites threatened by development, says WWF
Close to half of the sites around the world designated for special protection as areas of outstanding importance for nature are now being threatened by industrial development, a new survey has shown.
The sites, which include Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon in the US, and China’s giant panda sanctuaries in Szechuan, are all supposed to be protected under the United Nations’ designated world heritage status. But encroachments from industries, including fossil fuel exploration and illegal logging, are threatening to destroy the valuable habitats, the conservation charity WWF said on Wednesday (April 6, 2016)
