CityNews – Thailand’s Culture Minister, Vira Rojpojchanarat, announced on June 6 that Chiang Mai has now been added to a list of possible World Heritage Sites by Unesco.
The addition follows approval of an application submitted to Unesco from Thailand, to add Chiang Mai to a list of sites to be considered as being listed as World Heritage Sites.
The decision was revealed during a World Heritage Committee meeting held in Germany, last Wednesday.
According to the process of listing cities and places as World Heritage Sites, they must be on a ‘tentitive’ list for at least one year before they can be nominated for full status.
Thailand currently has four places on the list, including the Phu Phrabat Historical Park which has been on the list since 2004, but is expected to be issues World Heritage status in 2016.
Culture Minister Vira added that there are currently 1,031 World Heritage Sites, of which 802 are cultural sites such as cities and monuments, 197 natural sites and the remainder a collection of all kinds of sites deemed valuable to the world.