PHOTO: Eight Natural Wonders, Protected By UNESCO

With this year`s addition, the World Heritage List includes 878 locations, 679 of which are cultural and 174 natural.

Eight new natural wonders were included in this year`s World Heritage list, determined by UNESCO. These locations are normally of natural and cultural significance and of exceptional value of mankind. These are the places UNESCO finds deserve to be put under the special programme of preservation and protection.

With this year`s addition, the World Heritage List includes 878 locations, 679 of which are cultural, 174 natural and 25 are mixed, LiveScience writes.

Eight new natural locations included among the world heritage of exceptional value are: Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Canada, Mount Sanqingshan National Park in China, Lagoons of New Caledonia, France, Surtsey in Iceland, Saryarka: Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona and the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona in Yemen.

Abundance of life

These eight stunning natural sites are amongst the best of what nature has to offer – said David Sheppard of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Socotra Archipelago is home to over 825 plant species, of which 37 percent grow in that area exclusively. Also, 90 percent of reptiles that inhabit the area do not live anywhere else in the world. Its sea life is also wealthy. It has 252 types of corals, 739 types of coast fish, 300 species of crab, lobster and scampi.

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs are also considered a very important place when it comes to studying the Earth`s period from over 300 million years ago. These rocks witnessed the Earth`s first reptiles and still preserve fossil remains of trees. Most nature lovers find this place to be “a mirror leading to history”.

Surtsey is a new island which was formed by volcanic eruptions in the southern coast of Iceland from 1963 until 1967. It is interesting because of new life forms which have found their place under the Sun on it. This little piece of new soil has a small speed record in which plants and animals have colonised it.

Butterfly land

The Mariposa Monarch Biosphere Reserve includes eight areas in which the Monarca butterfly spends the winter after traveling thousands and thousands of kilometres.

Saryarka consists of some 200,000 hectares of steppe, while more than half have great historic value. Also, this is a feeding place for over 16 million birds. Some

The Mount Sanqingshan National Park in China delights biologists with its beauty. The park has quite a diverse forest and unusual granite rock formations. The Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona was included on the list thanks to its geological worth. The diversity of the coral ecosystem and fish is what has included the Lagoons of New Caledonia on the list.

You can see these eight new natural wonders of the world in the PHOTOGALLERY.