Sibiloi/Central Island National Parks
801
Kenya
N(i)(iv)
The Committee inscribed this property on the basis of natural criteria (i) and (iv) for the discoveries of mammal fossil remains in the site which led to the scientific reconstruction of the palaeo-environment of the entire Turkana Lake basin of the Quarternary Period. The Lake Turkana ecosystem with its diverse bird life and desert environment offers an exceptional laboratory for studies of plant and animal communities. The Committee expressed its concern and drew the attention of the Kenyan authorities to illegal grazing by large herds of domestic livestock in the Parks.
Concerning cultural criteria, the Committee noted that the comparative study of fossil hominid sites by ICOMOS has been completed and that it gives highest importance to Koobi Fora. The Committee, however, decided to defer the nomination under cultural criteria to allow the State Party to clearly delineate the cultural part of this nomination, which does not concern the same area as the natural part.