UNESCO Names 21 New World Heritage Sites, Adds to Endangered List

Attention those with big Bucket Lists. UNESCO has added 21 new places to its list of World Heritage sites. The additions include the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where nuclear bomb tests were conducted in the 1940s and 1950s.

Also new on the list is Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a silver trade route from Mexico north to the U.S. that was used from the 16th to 19th centuries.

The 21 additions bring UNESCO's total of must-see places to 911. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee made its announcement at its annual meeting in Brazil.

The committee also designated four sites as endangered, meaning immediate assistance can be allocated from the World Heritage Fund.

Returning to the endangered list is Everglades National Park in Florida, home to 20 endangered species.

The Everglades was previously on the list from 1993 to 2007, and UNESCO says water diverted to cities is to blame, then and now.

Newly added to the endangered list are the Atsinanana rain forests in Madagascar, the Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery in the Caucasus state of Georgia, and the tombs of Buganda Kings in Uganda.

Photo, Marshall Islands, mrlins, flickr