UPDATE | Everglades National Park Continues To Be A World Heritage Site In Danger

Editor's note: This updates with reaction from the National Parks Conservation Association.

Ongoing threats to the environmental integrity of Everglades National Park have convinced the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to keep the park on its World Heritage Site In Danger list. 

Concerns voiced by the UNESCO committee during its recent meeting in Paris centered on the longstanding efforts to restore natural flows of the "river of grass" from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay.

In its decision to keep the In Danger listing intact, the committee noted that the United States "has developed significant plans during the last three decades to provide more natural flow of water and improve water quality, but [the committee] expresses its concern that the projects necessary to achieve these goals have not been fully implemented nor are they fully underway and that there are considerable ongoing delays in project funding that largely prevent the park authorities from implementing and completing the nine corrective measures identified in 2006."

Staff at the National Parks Conservation Association agreed with the committee's findings.

"We have seen this significant increase in the state and federal investment in CERP (the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan), and we celebrate that. And we're seeing progress right there is more clean water flowing to Florida Bay," said Cara Capp, NPCA's Everglades associate director, during a phone call Wednesday. "We're seeing the flamingos come back in the park, and these are all really positive signs. 

"But you know, this UNESCO determination really highlights that what we're doing is still not fast enough, and even though we're investing in restoration, we're still not doing enough to address threats," she added. "The state of Florida is investing billions of dollars in restoration, and yet we're not meaningfully addressing polluters who are still impacting the watershed. It's a real sign that there's still a lot more to do."

The national park is the only UNESCO site in the United States that has landed on the In Danger list.

In 1979 the park was designated a World Heritage Site, a recognition extended by UNESCO on sites around the world for their outstanding universal values. In 1993, due in part to damage caused by Hurricane Andrew, Everglades was listed as being "in danger." 

It retained that ranking until 2007, when Todd Willens, a deputy assistant secretary under then-Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, asked the World Heritage Committee at its annual meeting to remove Everglades from the list.

Interior officials realized at the time that Everglades hadn't solved all its issues, but they believed significant progress was being made.

In 2007 in addition to the hurricane damage, Florida was struggling with drought that some feared would jeopardize water flows through the national park, urban sprawl was a problem then as it is now, and there were impacts on the park from agriculture and surface water pollution. 

The Obama administration convinced the committee to relist Everglades National Park in 2010 as a site in danger. In doing so, the committee cited "concerns that the property's aquatic ecosystem continues to deteriorate, in particular as a result of:

• Alterations of the hydrological regime (quantity, timing, and distribution of Shark Slough inflows);
• Adjacent urban and agricultural growth (flood protection and water supply requirements that affect the property's resources by lowering water levels);
• Increased nutrient pollution from upstream agricultural activities;
• Protection and management of Florida Bay resulting in significant reduction of both marine and estuarine biodiversity.

This past December the United States submitted a "state of conservation" report from the park to the committee, which noted that of "63 ecological integrity indicators, 14 show improvement, 37 remain unchanged, 11 are deteriorating, and one is unknown. In terms of status, 19 indicators are of significant concern, 25 indicate a need for caution, and 19 are considered to be in good condition."

Other concerns prompted by the report included:

• Total fish abundance has risen since 2021 but remains below desired levels, while the abundance of invasive fish species exceeds targets, posing a threat to small fish and crayfish populations;
• Climate change is causing marsh collapse, shifts in vegetation species, and saltwater intrusion, particularly in the southeastern areas of the property
• Nesting numbers of wading birds in the coastal ecotone continue to increase, now exceeding 1990s and 2000s levels. The American crocodile population is also expanding, due to stable hatchling survival and increased nesting effort. However, roseate spoonbills have abandoned
  historic nesting sites, leading to a proposal to remove them as an ecological integrity indicator;
• Mercury concentrations remain high due to atmospheric deposition from coal-fired power plants;
• The prevalence and impact of invasive species remain a major challenge, requiring sustained and substantial resources for effective management. This ongoing threat to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property is expected to persist. Management efforts focus on early detection, rapid response, research, and outreach.