KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The United Nations’ cultural agency decided Thursday against putting the Buddhist pilgrimage destination of Lumbini on its list of heritage sites in danger, instead giving authorities in Nepal more time to help restore the famous gardens and temple that are falling into disrepair.
Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha according to Buddhist tradition, and was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.
Experts from UNESCO had recommended placing it on the agency’s list of sites in danger, saying that the deterioration of key features to the site shows an “alarming state of conservation.”
Basanta Maharjan, a Nepalese expert on the site and Buddhism, said Nepal has “totally ignored” UNESCO’s past suggestions and warnings.
“Now Nepal has one last chance to make the right amends,” he said after the decision was announced.
“Lumbini is important not just for Nepal or for Buddhists but for the world and there needs to be immediate improvements made to Lumbini by the Nepalese authorities,” he added.
Putting a site on the list, on which there are currently more than 50 properties, is meant to rally international support for conservation efforts rather than as a punishment, but can eventually lead to a site being dropped from UNESCO’s prestigious list of heritage sites.
In deciding at its annual meeting to give Nepal more time, delegates from the countries making up the World Heritage Committee, which maintains the UNESCO list and the conservation of the sites, noted Nepal’s ongoing efforts to preserve the site.
The Committee gave Nepal until Feb. 1, 2025 to submit a new report on the state of conservation and said the matter would be considered again at next year’s annual meeting.
Nepal’s delegation assured the group that it was committed to the “full implementation” of recommendations made by UNESCO experts that had inspected the site.
Lebanon, supported by Belgium, argued against giving Nepal more time, noting that there have been concerns about the state of its conservation since 2002, and multiple discussions to place it on the endangered list that have always been postponed due to promises from Nepal.
In the report on the state of the site, UNESCO experts said remains at an ancient Lumbini village located within the site’s buffer zone had been destroyed, its Sacred Garden is not being maintained, and the centerpiece Mayadevi Temple is suffering continuing water damage.
“The condition of the Sacred Garden and the Mayadevi Temple Shelter, in particular, continues to alarm, with previous interventions failing to halt deterioration,” the experts said in their report.
“The need for immediate conservation efforts at the Mayadevi Temple Shelter is critical.”
Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Lord Buddha, was born in the famous gardens of Lumbini in 623 B.C., according to UNESCO, although experts differ on his exact date of birth.
It quickly became a site of pilgrimage, and the white Mayadevi Temple is the center of the area where people pray.
Next to the temple is the Ashoka Pillar, erected by Indian Emperor Ashoka in tribute to Buddha while on pilgrimage to Lumbini in 249 B.C.
Today the site includes several monasteries, gardens, pagodas and a man-made pond, and regularly attracts more than a million visitors a year.
The Gautam Buddha International Airport was opened in 2022 in the nearby city of Bhairahawa, and a highway now connects the airport to Lumbini.
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Rising reported from Bangkok.
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