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The World Heritage Committee draws UP a World Heritage List based on submissions from the participating countries. The cultural and natural heritage items listed can be considered objects of international protection by this convention. At present, there are 378 items of cultural and natural heritage from various countries of the world included in this list. Among them are the Great Wall in China, the Versailles (Palace and nark) in France, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Angkor in Cambodia (Table I-4-2).
Inclusion in the World Heritage List is decided in the following manner. Every year by October l. the member nations of the convention propose sites and monuments which are already protected and opened to the public based on their own respective laws for inclusion in the World Heritage List. The World Heritage Committee then judges them in terms of established criteria and makes the final decision in December of the following year. In the case of cultural heritage items, however, it is necessary to submit a tentative list of those items which will be proposed for inclusion in the World Heritage List within the following five to ten years.
In Japan the Agency for Cultural Affairs and other related ministries and agencies considered the proposal of items selected from among those cultural and natural heritage items already designated by the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (National Treasures. Special Historic Sites, Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Natural Monuments, etc.), for inclusion in the World Heritage List. In September 1992, after a liaison conference of related ministries and agencies, the Japanese Government proposed the "Buddhist Building in the Horyu-ji Area", and the "Himeji-jo(castle)" in the field of cultural heritage, and the island of "Yakushima" and the mountain region "Shirakami-Sanchi" in the field of natural heritage. Besides above-mentioned two cultural heritage items, eight additional cultural heritage items to be submitted in a tentative list are "Temples and Shrines of Ancient Nara", "Temples, Castles and other Buildings of Ancient Kyoto", "Temples, Shrines and Other Structures of Ancient Kamakura", "Itsukushimajinja (shrine)", "Castles and Properties of the Ryukyu Kingdom", "Hikone-jo (castle)", "Shrines and Temples of Nikko" and "Shirakawa Mura (historic village)".
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