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Central Highlands of Sri Lanka

Central Highlands of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's highlands are situated in the south-central part of the island. The property comprises the Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles Conservation Forest. These montane forests, where the land rises to 2,500 metres above sea-level, are home to an extraordinary range of flora and fauna, including several endangered species such as the western-purple-faced langur, the Horton Plains slender loris and the Sri Lankan leopard. The region is considered a super biodiversity hotspot.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Hauts plateaux du centre de Sri Lanka

Les Hauts plateaux du Sri Lanka sont situés dans le centre-sud de l'île. Le bien comprend l'Aire protégée de Peak Wilderness, le Parc national de Horton Plains et la forêt de conservation des Knuckles. Ces forêts de montagne, qui s'élèvent à plus de 2500 m au-dessus du niveau moyen de la mer, abritent une variété de flore et de faune extraordinaire, notamment plusieurs espèces en danger comme le semnopithèque à face pourpre, le loris grêle de Horton Plains et le léopard du Sri Lanka. La région est considérée comme un point chaud de la biodiversité du Sri Lanka.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

المرتفعات الوسطى في سري لانكا

تقع المرتفعات الوسطى في سري لانكا في الجزء الجنوبي الأوسط من الجزيرة. ويضم هذا الممتلك المنطقة المحمية المعروفة باسم "بيك وايلدرنس"، ومرتع "سهول هورتون" الوطني، وغابة "ناكلز كونسرفايشن". وتأوي هذه الغابات الجبلية التي ترتفع 2500 متر عن سطح البحر مجموعة استثنائية من النباتات والحيوانات، بما في ذلك عدد من الأنواع المهددة بالانقراض مثل اللنغور الغربي ذي الوجه الأرجواني، والقرد الرقيق في "سهول هورتون"، والنمر السري لانكي. وتُعتبر هذه المرتفعات منطقة مذهلة تتميز بتنوع بيولوجي كبير.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

斯里兰卡中央高地

斯里兰卡高地坐落在斯岛中南部。遗址由维尔德尔内斯峰保护区(Peak Wilderness Protected Area),霍尔顿平原国家公园(Horton Plains National Park)和那科勒斯保护林地(Knuckles Conservation Forest)组成。这些山地林生长的地区海拔高达2500米,拥有十分丰富的动植物资源,包括西部紫脸叶猴(western-purple-faced langur)、灰瘠懒猴(Horton Plains slender loris)和斯里兰卡豹(Sri Lankan leopard)等濒危物种。该地区被认为是生物多样性的超级热点。

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Высокогорье в центральной части Шри Ланки

Высокогорье Шри Ланки расположено в южно-центральной части острова. Оно включает в себя охранную зону Пик Вайлдернесс (Wilderness), национальный парк Хортон Плейнс (Horton Plains) и заповедный лес Кнаклс (Knuckles). Эти горные леса на высоте до 2 500 метров над уровнем моря, являются средой обитания необыкновенной по своему разнообразию флоры и фауны, включая несколько видов, находящихся под угрозой исчезновения, таких как западный белобородый тонкотел, тонкий лори Хортон Плейнс и леопард Шри Ланки. Этот регион считается «горячей точкой» биологического разнообразия.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Mesetas centrales de Sri Lanka

Las mesetas de Sri Lanka se sitúan en la parte central y meriodional de la isla. El sitio comprende el área protegida del Pico Wilderness, el Parque Nacional de las Llanuras de Horton y el Bosque de Conservación de Knuckles. Estos bosques montañosos, situados a alturas de hasta 2.500 metros sobre el nivel del mar, albergan una flora y fauna de una variedad extraordinaria, incluyendo varias especies amenazadas, como el langur de cara roja occidental (Semnopithecus vetulus nestor), el loris delgado de las llanuras de Horton (Loris tardigradus nyctoceboides) y el leopardo de Sri Lanka. Se considera a esta región un hotspot o punto caliente de diversidad biológica.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

スリランカ中央高原
島国であるスリランカ南部の中央に位置するこの高原は、ピーク原生自然環境保全地域、ホートン平原国立公園、ナックルス森林保護区からなる。ここには、世界的にも重要な山地雨林が大規模に原生的な自然環境のままで残っている。海抜2500mの高地の森には、霊長類のニシカオムラサキランブールや、ホートンプレインズホソロリス、スリランカヒョウといった絶滅危惧種をはじめ、多くの固有種を含む多様な動植物が生息・生育している。この地域は、生物多様性が顕著にあらわれている。

source: NFUAJ

Centrale hooglanden van Sri Lanka

De hooglanden van Sri Lanka – in het zuidelijk centrale deel van het eiland – omvatten het beschermd gebied Peak Wilderness, het nationaal park Horton Plains en de Knuckles Conservation Forest. Deze bergbossen, met hoogtes van 2.500 meter, zijn de thuisbasis van een buitengewone verzameling flora en fauna, waaronder de bedreigde Westelijke paarsgezichtlangoer, de Horton Plains slanke lori en het Sri Lankaanse luipaard. De diverse bergregenwouden en aangrenzende graslandgebieden van deze regio herbergen meer dan de helft van de inheemse gewervelde dieren in Sri Lanka, de helft van inheemse bloeiende planten en meer dan een derde van de inheemse bomen, struiken en kruiden.

Source: unesco.nl

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka is a serial property comprising three component parts: Peak Wilderness Protected Area, Horton Plains National Park and Knuckles Conservation Forest. Its forests are globally important and provide habitat for an exceptional number of endemic species of flora and fauna. The property includes the largest and least disturbed remaining areas of the submontane and montane rain forests of Sri Lanka, which are a global conservation priority on many accounts. They include areas of Sri Lankan montane rain forests considered as a super-hotspot within the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. More than half of Sri Lanka’s endemic vertebrates, half of the country’s endemic flowering plants and more than 34% of its endemic trees, shrubs, and herbs are restricted to these diverse montane rain forests and adjoining grassland areas.

Criterion (ix): The property includes the largest and least disturbed remaining areas of the submontane and montane rain forests of Sri Lanka, which are a global conservation priority on many accounts. The component parts stretch across the Ceylonese rainforest and the Ceylonese monsoon forest. In the montane forests represented by the three serial properties, the faunal elements provide strong evidence of geological and biological processes in the evolution and development of taxa. The endemic purple-faced langur of Sri Lanka (Semnopithecus vetulus) has evolved into several morphologically different forms recognizable today. The Sri Lankan leopard, the only representative in the island of the genus Panthera, which diverged from other felids about 1.8 million years ago, is a unique sub-species (Panthera pardus kotiya). All three nominated properties provide habitat to this subspecies of leopard, endemic to Sri Lanka. Long isolation and the concomitant evolutionary processes have also resulted in a Sri Lankan molluscan fauna that is the most distinct in the South Asian region.

Criterion (x): The montane forests in the three serial components contain the only habitats of many threatened plant and animal species and are therefore of prime importance for their in-situ conservation. The property features exceptionally high numbers of threatened species, extraordinary levels of endemism, and high levels of species richness in a number of taxonomic groups. Of the 408 species of vertebrates 83%of indigenous fresh water fishes and 81 % of the amphibians in Peak Wilderness Protected Area are endemic, 91 % of the amphibians and 89% of the reptiles in Horton Plains are endemic, and 64% of the amphibians and 51% of the reptiles in the Knuckles Conservation Forest are endemic.

Integrity

The small size of the components of the nominated property is a result of the limited extent of the most significant rain forest areas remaining on Sri Lanka. However, provided the property is effectively protected and managed, these areas are sufficient, especially since many of the plant and animal species have highly localized distributions. The boundary of the Peak Wilderness Protected Area includes a range of protected zones, and this component has a common boundary with the Horton Plains National Park. Effective arrangements to protect the properties from the impacts of surrounding land-use, as well as to address a range of threats are required, including via functioning buffer zones.

Protection and management requirements

The property has strong and effective legal protection through a combination of state ownership and a range of different protective legislation. The management of the three components of the nominated property is delivered by a number of different site specific management plans that need to be kept continually reviewed and updated, and made consistent with each other. An overall management system for the whole property is required, to ensure consistency of management, monitoring and presentation of the property, in addition to that provided by the individual management plans. Adequate and sustained budgets are required for the management of the property as a whole, and within each component.

The nature and magnitude of existing and potential threats to the three nominated properties varies between the components, and includes a number of issues. In case of the Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the major human use is from around two million pilgrims who visit the Adam’s Peak annually and contribute to both forest and environmental degradation along the pilgrim trails leading up to the peak. Illicit gem mining is also a threat. Additional threats come from the spread of invasive species, forest die-back, occasional fires and vandalism and pressure for cultivation of cardamom. Effective action is required to ensure all of these threats do not impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property. A strong programme of engagement with the communities who live in the area surrounding the property is an essential requirement of its approach to management. In addition to the complimentarity between its different components, the property has a strong link with the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a World Heritage Site in the southern part of Sri Lanka. Links between these two World Heritage properties should be encouraged as part of the management systems of both properties.

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