The African cultural richness is honored on a day like today, May 5th, when the African World Heritage Day is commemorated, in recognition of the 148 heritage sites that it houses.
Proclaimed by the 38th session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), the date seeks international recognition of the value of the culture and nature of the African continent.
Africa has emblematic sites that have been declared a World Heritage Site by that United Nations agency. Among them, we can mention the Victoria Falls, a beautiful spectacle that forms figures similar to clouds when falling, and can be enjoyed in the border region between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Also highlights the ecosystem of the Tropical Atsinanana on the island of Madagascar; the desert Namib Sand Sea in Namibia with exotic birds such as pelicans and flamingos or the city of Carthage in Tunisia, which was founded by the Phoenicians and treasures an ancient architecture full of history.
But African heritage is not only evident in its sites, which are part of the culture and identity of that region, but is also expressed in works of recognized literary value, which have transcended continents and have bequeathed unique descriptions through literature.
Works such as Sleepwalking Land, by the writer Mia Couto, tells the story of the civil war that raged in Mozambique in the 1980s; Americanah, by the writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, deals with the history of African immigration to the United States; and Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, who is considered the most universal writer on the African continent.
However, the commemoration of African World Heritage Day also helps to raise awareness of current threats to Africa, such as the effects of climate change on biodiversity, internal conflicts and poaching, which jeopardize the heritage value of this continent.
