The Council of Ministers on October 12 approved a request from the Ministry of

Environment to nominate the Mount Samkos and Mount Aural Wildlife Sanctuaries as

Natural World Heritage Sites.

The approval came in the wake of biological surveys of the Cardomom Mountains region,

proving the area is an unparallelled biodiversity "hotspot" and in spite

of resistance from Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Secretary of State Chan

Sarum, who dismissed the biodiversity evidence "insufficient".

After receipt of the nomination Unesco will send experts to study the sanctuaries'

acceptability for Natural World Heritage Site status.