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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The World Monuments Fund ( WMF), announced the 2010 World Monuments Watch list, and the famous Peruvian Machu Picchu ruins are included in it.

According to the WMF report, the stone structures and platforms, which have withstood the ravages of time, wars and earthquakes, are now vulnerable because of the constant and significant increase in visits and the urbanization of surrounding areas.

The head of the National Institute of Culture (INC) in Cusco, Jorge Zegarra, said that the only agency authorized to declare any cultural heritage of humanity at risk is UNESCO.

He added that for that organization, Machu Picchu is not and never has been on the list of endangered places, and that the daily number of visitors (2,500) does not  pose a threat for conservation.

The 2010 Watch includes 93 sites now at risk, representing 47 countries.

The Watch is WMF’s flagship advocacy program, and it calls international attention to threatened cultural heritage.

For more than 40 years, WMF, a nonprofit organization, has worked to preserve cultural heritage across the globe.

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