Expert Panel on UK’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites
At the end of March 2011, DCMS Minister for Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose MP, announced that UK Government was following the recommendations of the expert panel, on which UKOTCF’s then Honorary Executive Director Dr Mike Pienkowski sat, that the new UK Tentative List include three UKOT sites.
These are: Gorham’s Cave Complex, Gibraltar, a site important for remains of Neanderthal man and other features of human archaeology; The Island of St Helena, a site of quite staggering world importance for many endemic species, genera and ecosystems, as well as of great historical importance; and The Turks & Caicos Islands, a site of great importance to endemic species, migratory birds, coral reefs and the location of an internationally important salt industry for centuries. UKOTCF will assist, where possible, in the further work necessary to take forward these cases for designation. The list is valid for about 10 years. In 2016, Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar was entered on to the WHS list through the hard work of the Gibraltar Museum and other partners.