Perauçu Caves in Brazil declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site

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The announcement was made this afternoon from Paris, where the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is meeting.
A protected area since 1999, the park comprises an area of 564 square kilometers of lowland forest crossed by the Peruaçu River, in the northern part of the state of Minas Gerais.
UNESCO noted that the park is "situated at the intersection of the Cerrado, Caatinga and Atlantic Forest biomes and is home to more than 2,000 species of plants and animals, including many that are threatened."
This is the 25th time that UNESCO has awarded Brazil World Heritage status, joining sites such as the Iguaçu Falls and the historic center of the colonial city of Ouro Preto.
"Developed on the stable São Francisco craton, the landscape reflects the major climatic and geological changes of the Pliocene-Pleistocene," UNESCO highlighted regarding the newly inscribed heritage.
UNESCO considered that the canyon formed by the Peruaçu River gave rise to "spectacular limestone landscapes, vast caves and rich biodiversity", and also highlighted the park's horizontal cave systems, "formed in carbonate rock", reports Efe.
Among the hundreds of caves in the natural park, the Janelão Cave stands out, so named because it is over 100 meters high and accessible through a large opening in the wall of a canyon.
The national park also includes walls covered in prehistoric paintings in different pigments, ranging from yellow to black.
Despite their geological and historical importance, the Peruaçu caves are the second least visited natural park in Brazil, having received only 14,600 tourists in 2024, according to official data cited by the news agency Efe.
The Convention on World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and aims to "protect heritage properties endowed with outstanding universal value," as can be read on the UNESCO National Commission's website.
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