| Water for Life |
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| Sunday, 27 April 2008 | |
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The 30th session of World Heritage Committee held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 8 to 16 april 2008. On this occasion, several sites related to water were included among cultural property on the World Heritage List.
The aflaj irrigation system in Oman, for example, represent some 3 000 irrigation systems still in operation. Aflaj is the plural of falaj, which in classical Arabic, means "divided into shares and equitable sharing of a scarce resource to ensure sustainability," which remains the essential feature of these irrigation systems. The archaeological remains suggest that irrigation systems existed in this extremely arid region from 2 500 BC. The Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof in Germany is a center of commerce that exerts an influence in the region from the ninth century. Located on the Danube, this city has maintained a significant quantity of historic structures spanning two millennia, including the stone bridge which dates from the twelfth century. The bridge Vizcaya, Spain, spans the mouth of the estuary of the Ibaizabal, west of Bilbao. Completed in 1893, he was the first bridge in the world to transfer gondola suspended for both navigation and transport of passengers and vehicles. |
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