Dolomites, Wadden Sea new to Heritage List

SEVILLE, Spain, June 26 (UPI) -- The International Union for Conservation of Nature says it has added the Wadden Sea and Italy's Dolomites mountains to the World Heritage List.

The Northern Italian mountain range and the sea off the coast of Germany and the Netherlands were chosen for the designation after more than a year of rigorous evaluations, the organization said in a release Friday.

IUCN officials also decided to extend the existing heritage designation of the Tubbataha Reefs National Park in the Philippines.

IUCN Protected Areas Program official Pedro Rosabal said the Wadden Sea was granted Heritage List status as it serves as a major breeding site for millions of birds each year.

"Coastal wetlands are not always the richest sites in terms of the fauna found there, but that is not the case for the Wadden Sea," Rosabal said. "The number of fish, shellfish and birds the system supports is simply staggering. Biodiversity on a worldwide scale is reliant on this special ecosystem."

"They are widely recognized as one of the most attractive mountain landscapes in the world," Tim Badman, IUCN special adviser on World Heritage, said of his group's other new addition, the Dolomites.