The World’s Tallest Sand Dune Is UNESCO’s Newest World Heritage Site

UNESCO has enriched its World Heritage List with 24 new sites and two expanded locations, highlighting humanity’s earliest traces and stunning natural landscapes. In the heart of China, the Badain Jaran Desert stands as the country’s third-largest desert, famed for its colossal sand formations known as mega-dunes. Towering at around 460 meters (1,509 feet), the highest dune even surpasses the Empire State Building. Between these dunes lie 144 interdunal lakes, the highest concentration of its kind globally. The lakes’ colors vary, thanks to different salt levels and unique microbial life.

South Africa’s rich archaeological sites—Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Pinnacle Point Site Complex, and Sibhudu Cave—offer a window into early modern human behavior. These sites, dating back 162,000 years, reveal some of the first uses of shell beads, ochre for body paint, toolmaking, and symbolic communication.

Brazil’s Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is a sprawling 90,000-hectare expanse of dazzling white dunes and turquoise lagoons. While some lagoons are permanent, others appear only during the rainy season, creating a surreal landscape. This park not only captivates with its beauty but also provides key insights into the evolution of coastal dunes during the Quaternary period, starting 2.58 million years ago and continuing today.

Deep within Borneo’s Niah National Park lies a vast network of interconnected caves, holding the longest known record of human interaction with a rainforest—estimated at an astonishing 50,000 years. Among the discoveries are prehistoric rock art and boat-shaped burials, underscoring the deep-rooted history of human habitation in this lush region.

The Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific stand out as the only “mixed” site among the new additions, celebrated for cultural artifacts and untouched natural beauty. These islands harbor relics from a civilization that thrived in isolation for about 850 years. Simultaneously, their waters, virtually untouched by human activity, host a diverse array of seabirds, marine mammals, sharks, and rays, earning the description “the wildest coastal marine province in the world” by the World Heritage Committee.

Adding these remarkable sites to the UNESCO World Heritage List brings them much-deserved recognition and protection. Tim Badman, Director of World Heritage at IUCN, emphasized the importance of this designation, saying that these areas, which include awe-inspiring dunes, unique cave species, and vital bird migratory routes, face growing threats. The UNESCO status will help preserve these invaluable sites for future generations.