By IANS
Kathmandu : Seven historic destinations in Kathmandu, popular with art lovers, tourists and pilgrims but thought to have been under threat of destruction, are out of danger now, the Unesco has certified.
There was a sense of satisfaction in Nepal Tuesday after a meeting of Unesco's World Heritage Committee reviewed its list of world heritage sites in danger and agreed that Nepal's preservation efforts had paid off.
The Kathmandu Valley has the distinction of possessing seven magnificent ancient palaces and shrines that are listed in Unesco's prestigious list of world heritage sites.
They are the three royal palaces in Basantpur, Bhaktapur and Patan, the Hindu temples of Pashupatinath and Chhangu Narayan and two Buddhist shrines, Swayambhu and Boudhanath.
Though given the recognition in 1979, the seven sites were put on the list of endangered heritage sites in 2003 due to uncontrolled urbanisation.
However, on Monday, the World Heritage Committee meeting in New Zealand commended Nepal's efforts to "protect the outstanding universal value of the sites in the face of urban development" and took the valley off the list of endangered sites.
Along with Nepal, three more world heritage sites have also got a reprieve.
These are the Everglades National Park in Florida, US, the Rio Plantano Biosphere Reserve in Honduras and royal palaces of Abomey in Benin.
With the certification, Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has stolen a march over developed nation Germany.
The Unesco meet gave German city Dresden a year to formulate an alternative traffic plan to divert the rush of vehicles or run the risk of being taken off the list of world heritage sites.
Despite its size, Nepal has the distinction of having three more destinations recognised by the Unesco as natural and cultural world heritage sites.
These are the city of Lumbini in southern Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, the Royal Chitwan national park in the Terai plains, and the Sagarmatha National Park nestling among the Himalayan foothills in the north.