World's Most Endangered Sites

One of the few rainforests left in Central America, this reserve counts more than 200 archaeological sites, including Mayan ruins and the spot where Columbus first landed in mainland America. It’s also home to four indigenous groups, endangered jaguars, giant anteaters, and countless undiscovered plant species. The Honduras government requested that the property go on the Danger List in 2011 because of illegal logging, poaching, and land occupation from hurricane refugees. Increased drug trafficking within the reserve has posed a new threat to the site. —Adam H. Graham

Lahore Fort’s 11th-century walls festooned with blue kashi tiles, red sandstone, zoomorphic corbels, and inlays of precious materials are a source of great national pride. The exquisite Moghul engineering and landscaping at the 17th-century Shalimar Gardens, four miles away, stretches over a three-level terrace that counts 410 fountains, royal baths, marble basins, and pools and canals shaded by almond and quince trees. In 1999, a municipal agency accidently destroyed two historic water tanks during the widening of Grand Trunk Road, an effort to create better access between the two. “As sites become popular, visitation must be managed sustainably and effectively,” reminds UNESCO World Heritage Director Kishore Rao. “That’s the whole challenge.” —Adam H. Graham

In 2010, Florida’s Everglades were added to the Danger List for a second time after a 14-year stint (1993–2007) from Hurricane Andrew damage. Overdevelopment and unremitting aquatic degradation continue to threaten the site’s delicate mangrove ecosystem, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and its saw-grass prairie, the world’s biggest. Thirty-six endangered species, including the Florida panther, manatee, and scrub jay, live in the Everglades—the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America. It’s currently the only danger-listed site in the United States. —Adam H. Graham

The walled city of Jerusalem is a labyrinth of holiness, quartered into the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian sectors. The Western Wall and the Resurrection Rotunda in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—said to house Jesus’ tomb—are among its 220 historic sites. But safeguarding them has become a tangled political knot. UNESCO called on Israel to halt digging and the renovation of the Mughrabi Bridge, which links the Western Wall plaza and Temple Mount. But Israel continued, and in 1974, UNESCO stripped Israel of its membership for allegedly damaging archaeological excavations at the Temple Mount. In 1982, the city was added to the Danger List at the request of Jordan. Israel has partially suspended ties with UNESCO. —Adam H. Graham

A proposed reconstruction project of the Bagrati Cathedral’s 11th-century ornamental dome—destroyed during an Ottoman invasion in 1692—threatens the authenticity of the structure. The International Council on Monuments and Sites reports that improper reconstruction methods attempt to return the structure back to its original use as a religious space but that it should be left as an archaeological ruin. In 2001, the majestic cathedral began restoring the Georgian Orthodox Church, which started offering limited use for worship services at the site, drawing many pilgrims and tourists. Georgia is one of the oldest countries in the South Caucasus. Bagrati was added to the Danger List in 2010. —Adam H. Graham

Madagascar’s Atsinanana Rainforest was on the World Heritage List for less than five years before being danger-listed in 2010. Madagascar is known for its “megadiversity” and features an extraordinarily high number of endemic species, including 12,000 plants and 78 species of land mammals, most notably lemurs. The northern sportive lemur is so critically endangered there are thought to be fewer than 100 left. Deforestation has left eastern Madagascar with 8 percent of its original forests, while illegal hunting, gem mining, and poaching of animals including lemurs—sometimes used as practice shooting or bushmeat—has further threatened the site’s sustainability. —Adam H. Graham

Bisected by the Tigris River, 112 miles north of Baghdad, Samarra was once a powerful capital whose influence spread from Tunisia to Central Asia. As a result, its structures are fine examples of Islamic architecture, notably the ninth-century Malwiya Minaret and Abu Dulaf mosque. But multinational forces occupied Samarra when the Iraq war began. In 2006, the golden dome of the al-Askari Mosque was destroyed by bombs, and suspected al-Qaeda insurgents subsequently destroyed a pair of minarets. In July 2007, when the clock tower was blown up, the site was finally placed on the Danger List. The city is so lethal that the expression “an appointment in Samarra” has become a catchphrase for sure death. —Adam H. Graham

UFO-like thatched tombs sprawl over 65 square acres of Kasubi hillside just outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala City, and are considered a masterpiece of human creativity, utilizing poles, spear grass, reeds, and wattle. The 13th-century collection of four royal tombs is a major spiritual center for the Ganda people. But the main building caught fire in March 2010, prompting UNESCO to add it to the Danger List. A natural fence of bark-cloth trees circling the site has also been destroyed as a search for firewood in the region continues. On the bright side, the site is moving forward with preservation efforts. —Adam H. Graham

Ecclesiastical culture flourished in the Balkans between the 13th and 17th centuries, giving birth to a unique style of fresco painting. A prime example is Visoki Dečani monastery, four domed, frescoed churches that mix Eastern Orthodox Byzantine and Western Romanesque traditions. UNESCO added the site to its Danger List in 2006 because of conservation difficulties resulting from the region’s political instability. Sure enough, in 2007, grenades exploded near the monastery, and were attributed to Albanian terrorists attempting to threaten NATO-led Kosovo forces. —Adam H. Graham

Long before the series of 190-mile-long coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize became a diver’s paradise, Darwin declared it “the most remarkable reef in the West Indies,” in 1842. Its 100 types of coral and 500 species of fish—including the gentle whale shark—are just 10 percent of its discovered species. This has ensured its place as Belize’s most popular tourist destination. But mangrove cutting and excessive development have begun to destroy the site. Forty percent of Belize’s reef has been damaged since 1998, and reef bleaching remains a problem. It was added to the list in 2009. —Adam H. Graham

First a flourishing center in the ninth-century Ziyarid Dynasty, then an intellectual hub of Sunni Islamic culture from the 13th to the 15th centuries, Zabid’s 12 centuries of history have left the once grand city looking a bit ramshackle. Forty percent of its historic houses have been replaced by concrete structures. Today, its white Zabid Mosque, crowned by a lattice balustrade, faded mihrabs, and kufic-inscribed minarets, aren’t as gleaming as they once were. Since Zabid was added in 2000, UNESCO has been working with locals to implement an urban conservation plan. —Adam H. Graham

The world’s largest and tallest flowers—both known for their smell of decaying flesh—live in the three national parks that make up Indonesia’s Tropical Rainforest on Sumatra, home to the orangutan, Sumatran rhino, Bornean clouded leopard, and hundreds of bird species. Once a vast swath of tropical virgin rainforest, Sumatra’s forest has been reduced and concentrated to small pockets over the last 50 years. Poaching, illegal logging, agricultural encroachment, and a proposed road project through Kerinci Seblat National Park, the biggest reserve on Sumatra Island, culminated in the island’s placement on the Danger List in 2011. —Adam H. Graham

Created by millions of years of erosion along the Ethiopian plateau, this park’s jagged peaks, valleys, and extensive cliff walls invite comparisons to the Grand Canyon. The biodiverse area supports globally threatened species like the Ethiopian wolf, gelada baboon, and the walia ibex, a native wild mountain goat, as well as hundreds of bird species and flora. Forest fires, agricultural activity, livestock grazing, and encroaching human settlements continue to threaten the integrity of the park, which was added to the Danger List in 1996. —Sandra Ramani

Before falling to the Incas, the Chimu Kingdom ruled from its capital of Chan Chan, the largest earthen architecture city in pre-Columbian America and a masterpiece of political and social planning. Today, Chan Chan’s remains give insight into city zoning (the town was divided into nine citadels, each with houses, temples, and warehouses), water management systems, and agricultural and handicraft works. Though the earthen structures are vulnerable to the region’s extreme weather, as well as illegal farming, efforts are being made to contain the decay. —Sandra Ramani

Several 1st- to 13th-century sites hidden between the mountains of Afghanistan’s central highlands testify to the region’s diverse cultural heritage. Remains of the Shahr-i-Ghulghulah fortress mark what was once a stop along the China–Indian Silk Route. Even more spectacular, a network of Buddhist cave monasteries and chapels spreads across the valley’s foothills—several featuring wall paintings or seated Buddha figures. Along the Bamiyan Cliffs, two carved niches are all that’s left of the giant Buddha statues infamously destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. There has since been progress, and if security and conservation issues continue to be addressed, the valley should be off the Danger List by 2013. —Sandra Ramani

From 1880 to the mid-1900s, thousands of workers from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia lived in the remote Pampas—one of the world’s driest deserts—to help produce sodium nitrate fertilizer from massive saltpeter deposits. These workers developed the distinctive pampinos culture, complete with a unique language, an arts scene, and an influential social justice movement. Vulnerable to the harsh elements and damaged by recent earthquakes, the town structures of Humberstone and Santa Laura were added to the Danger List in 2005 to raise awareness for conservation efforts. —Sandra Ramani

Two islands off the Tanzanian coast, about 186 miles south of Dar es Salaam, bear the remains of what were once two of the most important, beautiful port cities. Perfectly situated to control Indian Ocean trade routes, these Swahili trading cities operated from about the 9th to the 19th century. Visitors were dazzled by the elaborate palaces and mosques (the Great Mosque of Kilwa Kisiwani has 16 domes and vaulted bays) as well as the stream of ivory, gold, perfume, and Chinese porcelain passing through. Open to the sea elements and threatened by growing vegetation and new construction, the archaeological remains—some of which have still not been excavated—were placed on the Danger List in 2004. —Sandra Ramani

Creatures like the grey-headed chachalaca, the giant anteater, and the Central American tapir live among the lowland swamp forests, tropical rainforests, and wetlands of this northwest Colombian park. It borders the Serranía del Darién mountains to the west and the rapid Atrato River’s floodplain to the east. Archaeological remains prove that Los Katios also served as a thoroughfare for the first colonizers from North America more than 20,000 years ago, as well as the Spanish expeditions of the 16th century. —Sandra Ramani

Menas, an Alexandrine officer in Diocletian’s army, made waves back in the third century by publicly declaring his Christianity and refusing to kill any Christians during battle—at a time when taking this stance invited peril. At his death, his body was brought back by camel and buried at this spot south of Alexandria, where, according to legend, water sprung up in the desert and olive trees sprouted. The tomb site attracted pilgrims, and by the 600s, a Christian holy city developed with monasteries, pottery workshops, houses, and a thermal bath complex. The Basilica of Arcadius, for instance, has 56 marble columns and elements of Coptic, Egyptian, Byzantine, and ancient Christian architecture. —Sandra Ramani

Lava plains, erosion valleys, savannas, swamps, snowfields, alpine mountain ranges—this massive park has got them all, not to mention Africa’s two most active volcanoes. The diverse topographies provide habitats for elephants, Uganda kob (a type of antelope), endangered mountain gorillas, and more than 20,000 hippos. Birds from Siberia warm up here in the winter, and 2,000-plus types of plants have also been identified. It’s one of five national parks in Congo to be pinpointed by UNESCO, giving the country the dubious honor of the most danger-listed sites. —Sandra Ramani

The fortified town of Bam in southeastern Iran gets honors for its ancient architectural wonders and the culture that grew from its setting at the crossroads of the Central Asian trade route in the 7th to 11th centuries. Once famous for its silk and cotton production, the town still has walls and a citadel that were made using mud bricks and layering techniques, while its qanats, an underground system of irrigation canals, helped keep the desert town hydrated. Destruction from a 2003 earthquake that killed more than 26,000 people, as well as growing modernization, have recently threatened the site. —Sandra Ramani

Founded in 1527, Coro was one of the earliest Spanish colonial settlements along South America’s Caribbean coast, and in 1531 was named the first bishopric in the new world by Pope Clement VII. Today, the town numbers more than 600 historic buildings, including the best remaining example of earthen construction and the fusion of Spanish Mudejar and Dutch architectural techniques. Though Coro has fared better than nearby cities like Maracaibo and has managed to maintain much of its historic architecture, concerns over the impact of Venezuela’s booming oil industry led to its addition to the Danger List in 2005. —Sandra Ramani

Along the remote Cordillera mountain range, on the northern Philippine island of Luzon, generations of the native Ifugao ethnic group have worked the rice terraces for more than 2,000 years. The designated World Heritage complex consists of five specific clusters, some dotted with traditional farmers’ houses and granaries or set against a backdrop of traditional villages. Cited for its unique cultural and societal setup as well as its “unparalleled” natural beauty and innovative sustainable farming practices, the Ifugao terraces are now being threatened by migration, technological advances, and climate change. The terraces were added to the Danger list in 2001. —Sandra Ramani

This national park represents all the unique ecosystems of the Sudanese bioclimatic zone, including forests, lush savannas, waterways, and rocky hills. These diverse habitats provide shelter for countless wildlife—from lions (said to be the largest in Africa) and leopards to chimps and Derby eland, the largest antelope in the world—and bloom with more than 1,500 plant species. Threats from poaching, illegal livestock grazing, bush fires, and the drying of ponds landed the park on the Danger List in 2007. —Sandra Ramani

Rising above a deep river valley in Afghanistan’s Ghur province, this 213-foot, 12th-century minaret is covered in elaborate brickwork and geometric relief patterns and topped with shimmering blue tile inscribed in kufic. Remarkable for its innovative structural engineering and artistic flourishes—plus its influence on subsequent Islamic architecture—the minaret is thought to mark the site of the ancient imperial city of Firuzkuh. The remains of castles and towers, as well as stones with Hebrew inscriptions, have been found nearby. No reconstruction or major restoration work has been done in 800 years, but the minaret still stands. —Sandra Ramani