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Which criteria must a natural place meet to become a UNESCO World Heritage site?

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Ajanta Caves: reclining Buddha — World Heritage site Reclining Buddha statue, Ajanta Caves, north-central Maharashtra state, India.

To be designated as a natural UNESCO World Heritage site, an area must possess "outstanding universal value" and meet at least one of the following criteria:

It furnishes outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth’s geological history or its record of life.
It provides excellent examples of ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.
It contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.
It contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.12

These sites are distinct from biosphere reserves, which are managed under a separate program focused on sustainable development and human-environment interaction.3