The Selection of World Heritage Sites in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, commissioned by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Paris.

International and national level discussions on the potential cultural heritage and natural wealth of these remote and sensitive islands lead to this important project with the generous support of UNESCO-World Heritage Centre. Research involved a series of discussions with the Andaman and Nicobar administration, tourism and forest department officials; survey of 24 islands; interaction with national and local NGOs; collaborative tasks with the local JRNM Government college tourism staff and freelance researchers; interviews with key informants and diversified stakeholders; personal observation and quantitative questionnaires with residents, tourists and officials. The number of islands considered for the research was 24. The final report recommended: 1) the Cellular Jail and Ross Island for the World Heritage cultural category and 2) the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve for the World Heritage natural category of the UNESCO World Heritage list. Based on the findings, the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve was nominated by the Government of India (Ministry of Environment and Forests; and MAB India) in 2010 and in 2012. The site was successfully inscribed by the International Co-ordinating Council of UNESCO Man and Biosphere under the World Network of Biosphere Reserves on 28 May 2013 (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2013/06/04/the-impact-of-a-research-project-exactly-after-10-years/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily). The Cellular Jail was nominated by the Government of India and successfully included in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage in April 2014 (http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5888/ ).