PARIS -- UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has decided unanimously to add an area encompassing islands in southwestern Japan to its World Natural Heritage list.
Comprising Amami-Oshima, Tokunoshima islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, and Iriomotejima island and the northern part of Okinawajima island in Okinawa prefecture, the area was inscribed by the committee at an online meeting on Monday.
"The site has high biodiversity value with a very high percentage of endemic species, many of them globally threatened," UNESCO said.
It is the fifth site in Japan to receive the designation, and the first in 10 years since the addition in 2011 of the Ogasawara Islands, remote islands in Tokyo.
Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said: "The value of the [area's] unique nature, with its rare species, has been recognized internationally. This value will now be conveyed to future generations."
The area, which spans 42,698 hectares and has a warm and humid subtropical climate with rainforests, is home to endangered and endemic species such as the Amami rabbit, the Okinawa rail and the Iriomote cat.
The UNESCO advisory body International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recommended the registration of the area in May. The advisory body has called for measures to reduce tourist numbers in Iriomotejima island and efforts to reduce traffic deaths of rare species. The World Heritage Committee has asked the Japanese government to report on its efforts by December 2022.
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