UNESCO World Heritage (Comoros milestone): The 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session in Busan added 25 new sites to the World Heritage List, including Comoros’ first-ever inscription—highlighting a push to better represent underrepresented regions and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Global heritage expansion: The new batch spans 19 cultural, 5 natural and 1 mixed property, with major highlights like Greece’s Mount Olympus and France’s D-Day landing beaches. Conservation and climate links: UNESCO also approved emergency protection measures for sites in active threat zones and expanded protections for existing properties, including Korea’s Getbol tidal flats (Phase II). Regional development with climate lens: Separately, the African Development Fund approved a $3.48m grant for Comoros and four other African countries to strengthen industrial and trade policy frameworks, explicitly factoring in climate change and gender equality. Energy security pressures (environmental spillover): Reports also describe major disruptions to tanker traffic around Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb, underscoring how conflict-driven shipping risks can translate into pollution and ecosystem stress for coastal waters.