*Photo credit: saint-lucia.com

The Pitons will be among key issues to be discussed at the 34th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee, which opens on 25 July 2010.

UNESCO officials have confirmed that the piton management area has been under evaluation, and could be placed on the endangered list if their recommendations are not adhered to.

Minister responsible for the environment and physical development Richard Frederick will be attending the meeting and is expect to make a case for St. Lucia’s World Heritage Site.

“As it is, not too long ago the World Heritage Committee had sent a three-man delegation to investigate what was transpiring within the PMA, as it relates to the World Heritage status which we enjoy and the report was recently produced and whilst the report may not have contained false information per se, if read in isolation without having other information, one would be minded to believe, Government of St. Lucia might have disregarded the conditions under which the status was granted to us and  in that regard I felt it incumbent upon me, as minister responsible for physical development, to elucidate the panel , as it relates to the contents of the report,” the minister explained.

Representatives from 35 nations are expected to be in attendance at the meeting which will be held in Brazil.

The pitons were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in June 2004.

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