Announcing the provisional New7Wonders of Nature

The provisional New7Wonders of Nature are, in alphabetical order: Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo, Puerto Princesa Underground River, Table Mountain. Here, Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, announces the names of the provisional New7Wonders of Nature at the New7Wonders headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Ha Long Bay named New World Wonder of Nature

Ha Long Bay in Vietnam’s northern Quang Ninh has been named among the world’s new seven wonders of nature, according to the global poll’s provisional results announced this morning by New Open World Corporation, an associate of the New 7 Wonders Foundation.

At 2:07 am Vietnamese time today, November 12, the global poll organizers announced the provisional list of the world’s new seven wonders of nature, including, in the alphabet order, the Amazon rainforest in South America, Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, the Iguazu waterfall of Argentina and Brazil, South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo Island, Puerto Princesca Underground River of the Philippines, and the Table Mountain in South Africa.

The list was made based on the provision results of the voting for 400 wonders from more than 200 countries and territories that ended at 11:11 pm November 11, 2011.

Final results will be announced early next year, said the Swiss foundation, warning however that there may yet be changes between the provisional winners and the final list.

Earlier on September 27, Ha Long was placed among the 28 finalist candidates for the voting.

Ha Long Bay, which was recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage site in 1994, is seated on an area of around 1,553 square meters, including 1,969 islets, most of which are limestone.

The core of the bay has an area of 334 square meters with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments.

The bay, with a coastline of 120 km, is home to 14 endemic floral species and about 60 endemic faunal species.

Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls among New 7 Natural Wonders

The Amazon rainforest, Vietnam's Halong Bay and Argentina's Iguazu Falls were named among the world's new seven wonders of nature, according to organisers of a global poll.

Vietnam's Halong Bay

The other four crowned the world's natural wonders are South Korea's Jeju Island, Indonesia's Komodo, the Philippines' Puerto Princesa Underground River and South Africa's Table Mountain, said the New7Wonders foundation, citing provisional results.

Final results will be announced early 2012, said the Swiss foundation, warning however that there may yet be changes between the provisional winners and the final list.

Sites which have failed to make the cut include Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, the Dead Sea and the US Grand Canyon.

The poll organised by Swiss foundation New7Wonders has attracted great interest, mobilising celebrities including Argentinian football star Lionel Messi calling on fans to pick his home country's Iguazu Falls.

The results come after a long consultation process lasting from December 2007 to July 2009, when world citizens were asked to put forward sites which they deemed were natural wonders.

More than a million votes were cast to trim the list of more than 440 contenders in over 220 countries down to a shortlist of 77.

The group was then further cut to the 28 finalists by a panel of experts.

Anyone in the world was then able to vote for the final seven via telephone, text messages or Internet social networks.

Founded in 2001 by filmmaker Bernard Weber in Zurich, the foundation New7Wonders is based on the same principle on which the seven ancient wonders of the world were established. That list of seven wonders was attributed to Philon of Byzantium in ancient Greece.

New7Wonders said its aim is to create a global memory by garnering participation worldwide.

But even as the natural wonders poll came to a close, the New7Wonders foundation has set its eyes on a new survey -- the top seven cities of the world. Participating cities will be announced on January 1, 2012.

New7Wonders Founder-President says “Thanks!”

Zurich/Switzerland : Now that voting for the New7Wonders of Nature has ended and counting of the votes has begun, I would like to express my sincere thanks for your support during the campaign. By taking the time to take part, you have shown that you care about something that is very important to all of us: our home, Mother Earth.

Bernard Weber

I would especially like to extend by deepest gratitude to each and every one of the 28 Finalists. You impressed us with your commitment; you astonished us with your energy. Regardless of the results, you are all winners because by making it to the Final you held up a mirror to the world that reflected the planet’s incredible natural beauty.

We started this campaign four years ago with the vision of generating interest in nature, sustainability, democracy and networking. In each case, the results exceeded our expectations. The involvement of millions of people in the New7Wonders of Nature gives us reason to hope in these troubled times. By providing a voting platform for global participation in popular decision making, we are playing our part in making this a better world.

Once more, thanks, and good luck to the 28 Finalists!

With warm and wonderful regards

Bernard Weber

Founder, New7Wonders

The New7Wonders of Nature are…

The first count of the global vote to elect the New7Wonders of Nature has been announced. In alphabetical order, they are: Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo, Puerto Princesa Underground River, Table Mountain.

Bernard Weber

Announcing the results at the headquarters of the New7Wonders Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland, Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, said: “I would like to thank the many champions, citizens, voluntary organisations, public bodies and governments that have helped promote the New7Wonders of Nature campaign over the past four years, starting with over 440 locations from over 220 countries and all the way to the 28 Finalist candidates from whom the New7Wonders of Nature have been chosen.”

The results announced this evening are provisional and based on the first count of votes completed since voting ended at 11:11 GMT this morning. The results will now be checked, validated and independently verified. Once the voting validation process is completed, in early 2012, New7Wonders will then work with the confirmed winners to organise the Official Inauguration events. Note: It may happen that one or more of the provisional winners announced today will not be confirmed during the validation process, New7Wonders will issue a media update should this happen.

“We congratulate each of these participants on achieving their provisional New7Wonders of Nature status, and look forward to completing the confirmation process to celebrate each one in their own Official Inauguration ceremony early in 2012,” said Bernard Weber, adding, “When the New7Wonders of Nature are confirmed they will join the man-made New 7 Wonders of the World in becoming part of Global Memory for humankind for ever.”

Vietnam: The Natural Wonders of Voting

Battling Asia’s highest inflation rate and a banking system that is at “very high risk” of a crisis according to Standard & Poor’s, Vietnam’s central bank this week sent out an urgent communiqué to Vietnamese financial institutions.

But the State Bank of Vietnam was not warning them to boost their balance sheets or clean up their risky loan books. It was urging them to make their employees vote for Halong Bay, one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, as one of the new seven natural wonders of the world.

After four years of short-listing, voting in a global competition to name seven natural wonders of the world will finally close on Friday.

Halong Bay, a vast lagoon dotted with thousands of limestone peaks, faces stiff competition from 27 other finalists including the likes of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Grand Canyon and Uluru (Ayers Rock) as well as lesser-known natural wonders such as Azerbaijan’s Mud Volcanoes and the Masurian lake district in Poland.

While leaders in one-party, Communist-ruled Vietnam are not usually that keen on promoting competitive voting, they have thrown themselves into this particular ballot with rare vigour.

Senior officials from the culture minister to a deputy prime minister have told citizens to do their duty and vote for Halong Bay. Gaggles of giggling Communist youth volunteers have been cycling around the streets of Hanoi waving banners in support of the Halong Bay campaign. And banks, who in the past have often taken central bank guidance with a pinch of salt, have set their staff quotas of text messages to send (600 SMSs per employee at one state-owned bank) and vowed to reimburse the costs.

Officials from other competing countries such as Australia and Israel have also encouraged their people to vote for their respective natural wonders.

Yet Vietnamese officials, perhaps mindful of the growing importance of tourism to the economy, are going the extra mile to try to secure victory, pulling on the many control levers available to the pervasive Communist party.

While they accept that a victory would provide a publicity boost, some tourism executives reckon that the obsession with this competition is wrong-headed, particularly given that Halong Bay is already acknowledged as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The money and time, they say, would be better spent cleaning up the worsening pollution in Halong Bay, raising safety standards on tour boats after two fatal sinkings in recent years and improving the overall environment for tourism.

Unlike India, Malaysia and Thailand, Vietnam has struggled to come up with a convincing plan for boosting tourism. The visa requirements for most Western visitors are also a major turn-off, according to tourism executives.

Although Vietnam received a record 5m visitors last year, a 35 percent increase on crisis-hit 2009, it still attracted fewer tourists than Bulgaria, Syria and Ukraine.

If only, one Vietnamese observer notes, the Communist leadership could muster the same enthusiasm for public participation and policy implementation when it comes to more serious matters of state, the country’s future would look much brighter.

Additional reporting by Nguyen Phuong Linh

Trong Mai Islet in Halong Bay, Vietnam

Trống Mái is situated on the south-west side of Hạ Long Bay, 5 km from the tourist wharf near to Ðỉnh Hương Islet. In a somewhat large expanse of open sea, the island seems to grow up from the bottom of the deep emerald waters. At sunset, the island with the height of over 10 m is bright red and in a somewhat tottery position.

Trong Mai Islet in Halong Bay

Their tiny legs support heavy bodies, and it appears that one strong wave could throw the two stone blocks into the sea. However, hundreds of millions of years have passed, and the Trống Mái is still there. The image of the island is the logo of Hạ Long Bay and Vietnam Tourism.