Part of the dunes of the Namib Naukluft Park, known as the Namib Sand Sea, has been submitted to the World Heritage Centre to be included on the World Heritage List.

The Namib Sand Sea Nomination Dossier was submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre by the Namibia National Commission for UNESCO Secretariat on the advice of the national and technical committees on the implementation of the 1972 World Cultural and Natural Heritage Convention.
The Secretary General of the Namibia National Commission for UNESCO, Dr Marius Kudumo announced in Windhoek last week that the Dossier was submitted in time before the deadline of 1st February 2012.
He said the dossier was sent to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for evaluation and is expected to be considered by the World Heritage Committee next year.
The main criteria for inscribing a cultural or natural heritage area on the World Heritage List is the demonstration its outstanding universal value. Kudumo explained that the World Heritage Centre has already certified that the Dossier is complete in terms of the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the Convention.
“The desert scenery, natural beauty and large dunes of the Namib Sand Sea, as well as the diversity of life forms that have evolved and adapted to the Namib Sand Sea are unique in the world, hence the nomination,” said Kudumo.
If approved, the Namib Sand Sea would be the second heritage property in Namibia to be inscribed on the World Heritage List after the inscription of Twyfelfontein on the World Heritage List in 2007. Kudumo said that World Heritage sites are beneficial to countries as they bring in a lot of visitors and make a country known around the world.