The Vega Archipelago inscribed on World Heritage List

The Vega Archipelago was inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List July 1. at the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee in Suzhou, China.
[UNESCOs inscription]

The Vega Archipelago is a cluster of dozens of islands centred on Vega, just south of the Arctic Circle. It forms a cultural landscape of 103,710-ha, of which 6,930 is land.

The islands bear testimony to a distinctive frugal way of life based on fishing and the harvesting of the down of eider ducks, in an inhospitable environment.
The archipelago reflects the way fishermen/farmers have, over the past 1500 years, maintained a sustainable living and celebrates the contribution of women to eiderdown harvesting.

There are fishing villages, quays, warehouses, eider-houses (built for eider ducks to nest in), farming landscapes, lighthouses and beacons. There is evidence of human settlement from the Stone Age onwards. By the 9th century, the islands had become an important centre for the supply of down which appears to have accounted for around a third of the islanders' income.

What is the World Heritage Committee?

The World Heritage Committee consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, elected by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention.
One of the essential functions of the Committee is to identify, on the basis of nominations submitted by States Parties, cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value which are to be protected under the Convention and to list those properties on the World Heritage List.

Description of The Vega Archipelago

The island kingdom of Vega in the district of Nordland, Norway encompasses 6000 islands, holms, and skerries. Most of the 1400 inhabitants of the county live on the main island of Vega, where fishing and agriculture have been the primary way of life for more than 10,000 years. The county of Vega includes the largest concentration of islands in Norway, with thousands of islands, holms, and skerries. Vega is a kingdom of contrasts - with maritime islands, high mountains, wetlands, and rich bird, plant, and mammal populations.

Values

Why have the islands of Vega been nominated for the status of World Heritage Site?
For the islands of Vega the nomination process began as a local initiative based on the Nordic report "World Heritage List in the Nordic Countries, NORD 1996:30." In this report the Northern Norwegian islands are one of four new Norwegian areas suggested for consideration. In May 2001 the Norwegian Parliament resolved to start the nomination processes for these Norwegian areas. They further resolved to give priority to the nomination process for the islands of Vega.

The presence of rare biotopes, unusual geology, distinctive marine and terrestrial flora and fauna, captivating aesthetic values, and unique history and development of the cultural landscape - all these criteria will be used to evaluate the islands of Vega as a World Heritage Site.
The bedrock of the Vega islands varies from mica slate, calcareous slate, and limestone in the northwest to granite in the south and west. The region has noteworthy natural values in Zoology, Ornithology, and Botany.

The nesting and migratory habitats for wetland and sea birds are nationally and internationally important. The Vega islands are winter territories for many diving ducks, divers, and loons.

[The tradition to keep eider ducks as domestic animals]

Large populations of otters and other marine mammals also thrive in this island environment. Vega includes some of the most windswept, battered islands on the coast of Nordland. Many of these have distinctive maritime and tidal vegetation communities - combinations of species that are unique in terms of plant geography.

Stone Age

On Vega the early Stone Age settlements were located near the marine resources - on the ocean beaches. Thousands of years of eustacy and isostacy have strung archaeological sites like ropes of pearls on beaches ranging in elevation from 70 m above sea level down to modern sea level.

The common economic basis was
once a combination of fishing and agriculture.

The Eider Ducks

Eider duck egg and down collecting was an important source of extra income on the islands. These traditional activities are still practiced in some parts of the county of Vega. In addition to representing a significant historical value, the tradition offers an excellent example of "sustainable development" -- the use of renewable resources.

Unique islands

Island groups like these in Northern Europe are not common on a global basis. In size and form the Northern Norwegian islands, epitomized by the islands of Vega, are unique. In Northern Norway nature is harsh and brutal. The islands of Vega have an entirely different character than the other Nordic island landscapes suggested for status as World Heritage Sites (for example the islands in the brackish Baltic Sea).

English version of the application (pdf)

Pictures from the Archipelago (pdf)

Maps (pdf)