Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could become the first World Heritage Site to lose its status if it fails to protect the last remaining northern white rhinos 鈥� the rare subspecies that earned the park its title in the first place. Only 10 rhinos are believed to be left in the wild.
Earlier this year the government of the DRC blocked conservationists鈥� efforts to move half the rhinos to a protected ranch in Kenya, well away from the crosshairs of poachers, on the grounds that the Congolese could sort out their own problems.
Last Wednesday at its annual meeting in Durban, South Africa, where eight new sites were granted World Heritage status, the committee was considering delisting Garamba next year. 鈥淭hat has never actually occurred in the history of the World Heritage Convention,鈥� says David Sheppard, head of protected areas for the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which together with UNESCO presented evidence that the rhinos were in danger.
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The committee has been urged to survey the area to consider the impact on other endemic species such as the Congo giraffe before taking any decision.
However, with a non-existent tourism industry, 40,000 rebel soldiers and the prospect of a power vacuum, it is questionable how much impact the threat of delisting will actually have.
