Italy’s Dolomite mountains, Wadden Sea along German, Dutch coasts named world heritage sites

UNESCO names 2 new world heritage sites

MADRID — UNESCO has added Italy’s Dolomite mountains and the Wadden Sea along the coasts of Germany and the Netherlands to its list of World Heritage Sites.

The U.N. agency announced the decision at a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in Seville in southern Spain.

The Wadden Sea coastline is a wetlands area rich in wildlife. UNESCO described it as one of the world’s last, large-scale intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function undisturbed.

It praised the Dolomites in Italy’s northern Alps as “one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere.”

Also at Friday’s meeting, UNESCO extended an existing heritage site in the Philippines called Tubbataha Reef Marine Park to include a natural park.