Asmara and Hoh Xil in world heritage list of UNESCO
Source : The Hindu
Art and Culture
What is discussed under Asmara and Hoh Xil in world heritage list of UNESCO?
- About the News
- Eritrean Capital Asmara
Why in News
UNESCO declared the Hoh Xil nature reserve in China’s Qinghai Province a natural heritage site and the Eritrean capital of Asmara has been listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Eritrean Capital Asmara
- Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa.
- Asmara is a former Italian colony .
- Architects whose designs were unwelcome in conservative European cities found a place in Asmara at a time when about half of the city’s population was Italian and the city was known as Piccola Roma or Little Rome.
- Modernist architecture of other Eritrean cities was destroyed during a decades-long war of liberation from Ethiopia, Asmara’s survived and was declared a national monument by the government in 2001.
Eritrea : Border with Sudan in the North-West, Ethiopia in the South and Djibouti in the South East. Coastal Border with Red Sea in the East.
China’s Hoh Xil
- Hoh Xil nature reserve, an isolated region in the northwestern part located on the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is home to over 200 animal species. - More than 20 of them are state-protected, including the Tibetan antelope.
- It is China’s largest world natural heritage site, covering an area of 45,000 sq. kilometers
Decision challenged by pro-Tibet activists : Giving Hoh Xil heritage status could have consequences for Tibet including the displacement of Tibetan nomads from their land.
Source : The Hindu
Prelims : Paper 1