Socotra nominated for New Seven Wonders

The pristine, dramatic natural beauty of Socotra starts to attract global attention.

The Swiss organization, New 7 Wonders Foundation, has accepted the Socotra Archipelago as one of  77 worldwide locations to compete for inclusion on their list of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The foundation, administered by Swiss citizen Bernard Weber, adopted the global competition for the selection of the seven natural wonders of the world. Internet voting will close next January.

A statement issued by the foundation has included the island of Socotra among 77 global preferred natural sites, pointing out that Socotra is ranked 74th according to voting thus far.  Included among the nominated sites are Wadi Rum Desert and the Dead Sea in Jordan, Jaita Cave in Lebanon, the White Nile River, Mount Sinai in Egypt, and the Blue Nile River in Sudan. 

The foundation has stipulated that it must receive formal assurances and form a supervisory contact group from governments or international organizations, to ensure the participation of all 77 sites in the second phase of the competition which will end December 31. From this, 21 worldwide locations will be chosen to compete in January 2009 to be listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The al-Syasiah political newspaper published by the Yemeni Saba News Agency put in a request last July to the official New Seven Wonders website, to include Socotra island on the list of candidate regions in the global competition.
 
Last August, the Saba Agency allocated a window on its news website, Sabanews.Net, for the public to vote for Socotra Island in the competition.  Last July, the Foundation held an open vote via the Internet and telephone, in which more than 100 million people participated to choose the New Seven Manmade Wonders of the World. 

The New Seven Wonders Foundation, which includes among its members the former head of the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, says it is using its survey to alert the world to the destruction of the world’s cultural heritage.  

The New 7 Manmade Wonders of the World, as announced in random order at the Official Declaration Ceremony on July 7, 2007, are: The Great Wall of China, Petra, Chichén Itz΅ , the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, the Colosseum, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal. More than 100 million votes were cast worldwide.

The New 7 Wonders are all equal – there is no ranking among the list.  The New 7 Wonders Foundation, which is behind the New 7 Wonders campaign, has the express aim of undertaking the documentation and conservation work of monuments worldwide under the motto “Our heritage is our future”. 

New 7 Wonders asks the citizens of the world to support it through film, television, the internet and books. Through the foundation’s work, people shall be sensitized to the beauty of the world’s heritage, both man-made and natural, and be alerted of its destruction and decay.

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