World Heritage Sites
World Heritage Sites
Unesco World Heritage sites are places with cultural or national (or both) significance, as decreed by the World Heritage Committee. The sites are 'natural and cultural properties of outstanding universal value [protected] against the threat of damage in a rapidly developing world'. New Zealand presently has three World Heritage sites: Te Wahipounamu; Tongariro National Park and the Sub-Antarctic Islands.
Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand
This area was inscribed to the list in 1990 and incorporates Fiordland, Westland, Mount Aspiring and Mount Cook National Parks. Te Wahipounanu features a landscape shaped by successive glaciations into fjords, rocky coasts, towering cliffs, lakes and waterfalls. Two-thirds of the park is covered with southern beech and podocarps, some of which are more than 800 years old. The kea, the only alpine parrot in the world, lives in the area, as does the rare and endangered takahe, a large flightless bird. The Southland Conservancy administers the area, which covers approximately 1.9 million hectares.
Tongariro National Park
In 1993 Tongariro National Park, in the central North Island, became the first property to be inscribed on the World Heritage List under the revised cultural criteria describing cultural landscapes. The mountains at the heart of the park have cultural and religious significance for Maori and symbolise the spiritual links between the community and its environment. Tongariro was the fourth National Park to be established in the world, after Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Tongariro ranges from herb fields to forests, from tranquil lakes to desert-like plateaux and active volcanoes.
Sub-Antarctic Islands
New Zealand's Sub-Antarctic Islands are the Auckland, Snares, Campbell, Bounty and Antipodes Islands. They are situated in the Southern Ocean, south-east of New Zealand. The islands have huge numbers and varieties of wildlife, including birds, plants and invertebrates, found nowhere else in the world. They are particularly notable for the large number and range of seabirds and penguins nesting there. There are 126 bird species in all, including 40 seabirds, five species of which breed nowhere else.
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