Rio gets UNESCO World Heritage Status

The Marvellous City or Rio de Janeiro has officially entered into the UNECSO’s list of world heritage sites. Rio de Janeiro city has been registered as “Carioca Landscapes between Mountain and Sea” on the UNESCO world heritage list. UNESCO has highlighted Rio’s extraordinary fusion of man-made and natural beauty that has made it to feature on the world heritage list. UNESCO status was accorded to the city in 2012, but the Brazilian authorities were given four years time to report their plans for protecting sites like Flamengo Park, Sugarloaf Mountain, the Corcovado, Copacabana beach, the Botanical Garden and Tijuca forest before officially according the status to the city.

Rio hosted the 2014 football World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. However, on the flip side, high rates of crime, last year’s Zika epidemic and political instability has spoiled the city’s image.

The UNESCO World Heritage Sites are on the basis of its cultural, historical, scientific or some other form of significance. The World Heritage Committee meets once a year, and consists of 21 States Parties to the Convention. The committee has the final say on whether to inscribe a property on the World Heritage List or not.