In April of this year the U.S. government, reporting progress had been made, requested the World Heritage Committee to remove Yellowstone from the Danger List. Despite objections by park staff and conservation organizations that the environmental threats had not yet been adequately addressed, the Committee acquiesced.
Still, the whole process, and the public attention it brought to bear, demonstrates how World Heritage status helps preserve great places, whether well known, like Machu Picchu and the Great Barrier Reef, or less so, like Mount Nimba in Guinea and Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. If you, like me, feel a thrill of curiosity about those places (especially the lesser known), if you fear a site disappearing before you might get around to seeing it—then you know what the Convention is all about: Our human right to our common inheritance.
Winding up my exploration of Évora, I passed another street piled with cobblestones. Ernesto was out there, shabby as ever, showing a work crew how to lay authentic, World Heritage-class paving. I left Évora wishing all sites of Heritage caliber were in such good hands.
You might wonder why anyone wouldn't, especially if you lived in the country that first proposed the World Heritage program and first ratified it: the United States of America.
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