TENTATIVE WORLD HERITAGE SITE STATUS INCLUDES WHITE SANDS

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has included White Sands National Monument on its Tentative World Heritage Site list. The ‘tentative’ designation does not mean White Sands is now a World Heritage Site. It simply means White Sands, which is located in Otero county, is being considered for nomination and designation as a World Heritage Site.

I was reading on the World Heritage Alliance website and came across some of the same old players we’ve bumped into when researching environmentalists’ intent on implementing more regulation in New Mexico. The World Heritage Site land grab gets its legs from such elaborate think tanks like the UN Foundation. Part-time New Mexico resident, Ted Turner donated $1 billion to create the UN Foundation. Remember, Ted Turner owns the 580,000 acres Vermilljo Ranch in the northern part of the state.
Ted grazes cattle and buffalo, harvests timber and drill for natural gas on his ranch.

The UN Foundation passes its agenda on to the World Heritage Alliance (WHA). The WHA advocates for increased ‘sustainable’ tourism, protecting World Heritage Sites, and influencing communities adjoining World Heritage Sites for the benefit and protection of the designated site. Take the time to read the WHA goals and recommendations on their website: http://www.worldheritagealliance.org/press_releases/pr_112807.htm

“Also in 2008, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre will launch a major new initiative on World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism, specifically targeted toward fostering a closer working relationship between the conservation community and the travel and tourism industry. Broad consultation among stakeholders will be used to develop policy guidance and a charter of good practices on the premise that when well managed, tourism can contribute to the conservation of sites and promote sustainable development of local communities.”
“The World Heritage Centre coordinates its activities with those of other multilateral cultural and environmental agreements, UNESCO cultural and natural heritage conventions and recommendations, to ensure complementarity and synergy. The Centre also identifies and implements regional and thematic programmes, and mobilizes additional financial and technical resources to ensure the conservation and management of World Heritage properties in partnership with other UN agencies, development banks, conservation NGOs, research institutions, foundations and the corporate sector. For more information, visit http://whc.unesco.org.”

I came away from the World Heritage Alliance site with two impressions.
One: Alamogordo will become an ‘international’ tourist town, complete with international facilities, more traffic, more out of town investment and all of this in the name of ‘sustainable’ tourism.

Or two: Sustainable tourism means buffer zone creation of the city and county will put a cap on visitation, manipulation of local zoning ordinances, and restrictions on private property. Add to this the collateralization of national landmarks.