Lord Howe Island Group World Heritage values
Lord Howe Island Group was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982. The World Heritage criteria against which Lord Howe Island Group was listed remain the formal criteria for this property. The World Heritage criteria are periodically revised and the criteria against which the property was listed in 1982 are not necessarily identical with the current criteria.
Criteria
Contain unique, rare and superlative natural phenomena, formations and features and areas of exceptional natural beauty.
Lord Howe Island Group is an outstanding example of an oceanic island of volcanic origin containing features, formations and areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. The World Heritage values include:
- the exceptional diversity of spectacular and scenic landscapes within a small land area; and
- outstanding underwater vistas including reefs considered to be among the most beautiful in the world.
Provide habitats where populations of rare and endangered species of plants and animals still survive.
Lord Howe Island Group is an outstanding example of an oceanic island of volcanic origin with a unique biota of plants and animals and important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing species of plants and animals of outstanding universal significance from the point of view of science and conservation. The World Heritage values include:
- the diversity of vegetation communities which includes 25 associations, 20 alliances and 14 sub-formations;
- the diversity of indigenous vascular plant taxa comprising at least 241 species, including species of conservation significance with many endemics;
- the diversity of bird taxa comprising 164 bird species, including species of conservation significance with many endemics;
- seabird breeding habitats which, together, comprise one of the major breeding sites in the south-west Pacific, including for species of conservation significance;
- high levels of richness and endemism of terrestrial invertebrate taxa including 100 species of spiders of which 50 percent are endemic;
- the unusual combination of tropical and temperate taxa of marine flora and fauna, including many species at their distributional limits, reflecting the extreme latitude of the coral reef ecosystems which comprise the southern-most true coral reef in the world;
- the diversity of marine benthic algae species including at least 235 species of which 12 percent are endemic;
- the diversity of marine fish species including at least 500 species of which 400 are inshore species and 15 are endemic; and
- the diversity of marine invertebrate species including more than 83 species of corals and 65 species of echinoderms of which 70 percent are tropical, 24 percent are temperate and 6 percent are endemic.
Heritage values
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