World Heritage Identification Number: 1037
World Heritage since: 2001
Category: Natural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇨🇭 Switzerland
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch: A Unique World Heritage Site
The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, stands as a testament to the breathtaking beauty and geological significance of the High Alps. Spanning over 82,400 hectares across the cantons of Bern and Valais, this expansive protected area offers a unique insight into the formation of mountains, glaciers, and the ongoing effects of climate change.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The extension of the natural World Heritage property of Jungfrau - Aletsch - Bietschhorn (first inscribed in 2001), expands the site to the east and west, bringing its surface area up to 82,400 ha., up from 53,900. The site provides an outstanding example of the formation of the High Alps, including the most glaciated part of the mountain range and the largest glacier in Eurasia. It features a wide diversity of ecosystems, including successional stages due particularly to the retreat of glaciers resulting from climate change. The site is of outstanding universal value both for its beauty and for the wealth of information it contains about the formation of mountains and glaciers, as well as ongoing climate change. It is also invaluable in terms of the ecological and biological processes it illustrates, notably through plan succession. Its impressive landscape has played an important role in European art, literature, mountaineering and alpine tourism.
Encyclopedia Record: Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area
The Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area is located in south-western Switzerland between the cantons of Bern and Valais. It is a mountainous region in the easternmost side of the Bernese Alps, containing the northern wall of Jungfrau and Eiger, and the largest glaciated area in western Eurasia, comprising the Aletsch Glacier. The Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area is the first World Natural Heritage site in the Alps; it was inscribed in 2001.Additional Site Details
Area: 82,400 hectares
(viii) — Outstanding example representing major earth stages
(ix) — Outstanding example representing ecological and biological processes
Coordinates: 46.5 , 8.0333333333
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© Carsten Steger, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
