Thursday, June 28, 2012 – Saint Lucia’s delegation, headed by Senator Honourable Dr. James Fletcher, and also comprising Ms. Vera Lacoeuilhe from Saint Lucia’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, was successful in its efforts to prevent the Pitons Management Area PMA from being placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger at the 36th Meeting of the World Heritage Committee currently taking place in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.

In his presentation to the World Heritage Committee (WHC), Senator James Fletcher apprised the WHC of the steps that have been taken by his government to improve the governance and administrative structure of the PMA and reaffirmed Saint Lucia’s commitment to protecting the integrity of its prestigious World Heritage Site.  Dr. Fletcher also pledged to work with the WHC and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in conducting a long-delayed Limits of Acceptable Change study and in articulating an integrated development plan for the PMA.

The placement of the PMA on the List of World Heritage in Danger would have been a serious embarrassment for the government and people of Saint Lucia, given the iconic status of Saint Lucia’s Pitons, and would have required a monumental effort to remove the PMA from a list that every World Heritage Site dreads.