Seven wonders of nature

What do you think are the seven wonders of the natural world? A list of the new seven wonders of nature will be officially announced tomorrow following a global online and phone poll. I’ve written an article for the Guardian newspaper on the poll And there is still time for you to vote at http://www.new7wonders.com/

The competition from a short list of 28 natural wonders of the world  is expected to attract votes from millions of people around the world. It includes the Amazon, Great Barrier Reef, Mont Vesuvius, the Dead Sea and Yushan. The poll organised by the New7Wonders Foundation and its corporate arm, the New Open World Corporation, was launched in 2007 following a similar exercise to find the new seven wonders of the world which the organisers claimed was voted on by over 100 million people. My predictions for the winners are

Great Barrier Reef

The Aussies are justifiably proud of the largest coral reef on earth. It can be seen from space and is supposedly the world’s biggest single structure made from living organisms. Composed of some 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands it stretches for 2,600 km and is strung out over 344,400 square kilometres of the Coral Sea in Queensland, north east Australia. Already a World Heritage site, it generates one billion dollars a year in tourism revenue. A definite in the top seven.

Amazon

Superlatives overflow when it comes to the Amazon Rainforest. Despite being cut down at an alarming rate, it still covers seven million square kilometres. Growing across nine different countries, it represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests making it the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest in the world. The forest is fed by the Amazon River, the largest river in the world by volume which also has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Like the Great Barrier Reef a must in the top seven.

Table Mountain

The only natural site on the planet to have a constellation of stars named after – Mensa, meaning “the table.” – Table Mountain is a South African icon. The flat-topped mountain has withstood six million years of erosion and hosts the richest, yet smallest floral kingdom on earth with over 1,470 plant species. It is the most recognized site in Cape Town and is known as the gateway to Africa, owing to its unique flat-topped peaks which reach 1,086 m above sea level. A definite top ten.

Galapagos Islands

Famed as being the inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, the Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator, 965 kilometres west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. They are famed for their vast number of endemic species and are already a World Heritage Site. Tourism is today strictly controlled on the islands having risen from just over 41,000 in 1991 to over 180,000 today. A favourite haunt of the BBCs Andrew Marr when not hosting his AM programme, Darwin would turn in his grave if the islands didn’t make the top seven.

Grand Canyon

The playground of Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the 26^th President of the United States, who liked to hunt there, the Grand Canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of 6 million years. It is 446 km long, ranges in width from 6 to 29 km and attains a depth of more than 1.6 km. During prehistory, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. A top ten contender if for no other reason than if the United States does have a contender, then many Americans will ignore the competition. .

Mount Vesuvius

With a temperament like Italy’s soon to be former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Mount Vesuvius is a volcano east of Naples. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years but is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It has erupted many times since and is today regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Likely to be the only European wonder in the top seven.

Sundarbans

The largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans meaning  “beautiful forest” has never got the recognition it deserves.  A delta at the mouth of the river Ganges, the Sundarbans spread across parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. They feature a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The area supports a wide range of fauna, the most famous of which is the Royal Bengal tiger. Should be in the top ten if for no other reason than to put in on the map.

Dead Sea

The lowest point on the surface of the Earth, tourists come from around the world to float in the Dead Sea, a lake lying between the countries of Israel and Jordan. At 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level, it is almost nine times as salty as the ocean which makes it impossible for most life to exist in it. However, it is not completely dead, as some types of bacteria are able to live in the water. A dead cert for the top seven.

Maldives

The Maldives deserve to be in the top seven because they are among some of the most beautiful but low lying islands in the world.  With the sea level rise associated with climate change, they could well not be here in a couple of generation’s time.  The Maldives are composed of 1,192 small islands with stunning coral reefs strung out like pearls across the Indian Ocean, 700 kilometers south-west of Sri Lanka. Two hundred of the islands are inhabited and over 90% of the islands GDP is reliant on tourism.

Yushan

Yushan meaning “Jade Mountain” is a central mountain range in Chinese Taipei or Taiwan. It is also the name of the highest point of the range at 3,952 m above sea level and is part of Yushan National Park, known for its diverse wildlife and ecology. The environment around Yushan spans from sub-tropical forests at its base to alpine conditions at its peak. Despite the enmity between Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China, the Chinese have been encouraging their residents to vote for it so expect people power to easily place it in the top seven.