PARIS: UNESCO on Monday decided to hold between June and July 2021 World Heritage Committee talks that will discuss whether to register Japan’s Amami-Oshima and other southwestern islands as World Natural Heritage sites.

UNESCO originally planned to hold the talks in Fuzhou, southeastern China, between June 29 and July 9 this year.

But in April, the gathering was put off due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

At Monday’s conference of the committee’s 21 members, participants adopted the new schedule of holding the talks in both Fuzhou and Uganda, originally set to host the 2021 meeting as the committee’s chair. Japan does not sit on the committee.

Japan has recommended the registration of Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, along with the northern part of the main island of Okinawa Prefecture and Iriomote, also Okinawa.

The upcoming meeting is also expected to discuss whether to register a set of ruins from the ancient Jomon period in Hokkaido and the Tohoku northeastern region, including the Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori Prefecture.

Committee members discussed the possibility of holding the postponed meeting online within this year, but this option was scrapped because China, this year’s chair, insisted on holding the meeting in the country, informed sources said.

JIJI Press