A senior official with the Unite Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO is calling on the world to pay more attention to preserving the diversity of world heritage sites.

Koichiro Matsuura, director-general of UNESCO, said at the opening ceremony of the world heritage conference that as UNESCO is moving closer to its 40th anniversary in 2012, it is also innovating itself through diversifying the types of sites so as to advance with the times.

"Over the past ten years we have developed three more conventions covering underwater and intangible heritage as well as cultural expression" he said,"To date, aside from the original cultural and natural sites, UNESCO has come up with cultural landscapes, prehistoric sites, modern heritage and industrial sites."

The nine-day conference will review protection reports of 177 sites and add new sites to the list.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2009)