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Which natural features can qualify an area for UNESCO World Heritage status?
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World Heritage site
Reclining Buddha statue, Ajanta Caves, north-central Maharashtra state, India.
To qualify for UNESCO World Heritage status, a natural area must possess "outstanding universal value" and meet at least one of the following criteria:
- It furnishes outstanding examples of Earth’s record of life or its geologic processes.
- It provides excellent examples of ongoing ecological and biological evolutionary processes.
- It contains natural phenomena that are rare, unique, superlative, or of outstanding beauty.
- It serves as a habitat for rare or endangered animals or plants, or it is a site of exceptional biodiversity.12
These sites are designated under the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which provides a framework for international cooperation in preserving such areas. While cultural and mixed sites also exist, natural heritage sites are specifically defined by these environmental and scientific benchmarks.21