Event: 35th Session of the World Heritage Committee [viewed]
This Committee identifies, on the basis of nominations submitted by States parties, cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value that are to be protected under the Convention and to list those properties on the World Heritage List. Six of these countries stand to have properties inscribed on the World Heritage List for the first time during the forthcoming session: Barbados, Jamaica, Micronesia, Palau, Congo and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Natural properties scheduled for consideration at the time of publication are: Ningaloo Coast (Australia); Pendjari National Park (Benin, an extension of W National Park of Niger); Wudalianchi National Park (China); Ancient Beech Forests of Germany (Germany, an extension of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, Slovakia and Ukraine); Western Ghats (India); Harra Protected Area (Iran); Ogasawara Islands (Japan); Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley; (Kenya); Trinational Sangha (Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic); and the nomination under new criteria of the World Heritage property of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Viet Nam). Three properties are proposed for both natural and cultural criteria as “mixed natural and cultural” sites. They are: Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (Jamaica); Wadi Rum (Jordan); and Saloum Delta (Senegal).
6 May 2011: During a visit to the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), Chilean Ambassador Jorge O'Ryan Schütz signed the CMS Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks (Sharks MOU). 
5 May 2011: Mali, the Seychelles, Sudan, Panama and Peru have recently signed the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS), bringing the number of signatures to 13.
4 May 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility's (GEF) Country Support Programme, organized a Regional Workshop on Biodiversity and Finance in Support of the Nagoya Outcomes for Central America. The event, which convened in Panama City, Panama, on 4 May 2011, was part of a series of regional workshops on biodiversity and finance convened as follow-up to the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the CBD, which met in October 2010, in Nagoya, Japan.
May 2011: The Organization of American States (OAS) has released a summary of its activities in celebration of the International Year of Forests.
2 May 2011: The South America Regional Workshop on Biodiversity and Finance in Support of the Nagoya Outcomes, held on 30 April 2011 in Cartagena, Colombia, gathered focal points from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) from eight South American countries to discuss the financial challenges involved in implementing the outcomes of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD.
21 April 2011: The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) has highlighted that the 19th meeting of the Plants Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES PC-19), at its 18-21 April 2011 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, forwarded a number of recommendations in relation to Swietenia macrophylla (bigleaf mahogany) to the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (COP 16).
April 2011: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has published a global review of legal and institutional frameworks for 28 transboundary surface water, groundwater and marine water systems covering the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. The report also considers climate change adaptation knowledge in the various water basins analyzed.
