Okefenokee World Heritage Site honor is a huge deal. Let’s meet the moment.
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge became the United States’ 27th — and Georgia’s first — UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 25.
A committee in South Korea voted without opposition to add this South Georgia and North Florida jewel to the list.
The Okefenokee joins the Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty and Everglades National Park in this prestigious group, which are considered by UNESCO to be of “outstanding universal value.”
This powerful and rare designation comes with moral implications for citizens in the United States and across the globe to protect and preserve the refuge.
World Heritage Site status does not guarantee legal protection. In fact, UNESCO keeps a list of endangered World Heritage Sites. These sites have faced threats including natural disasters, mining, pollution, overdevelopment, armed conflict, and poaching or invasive species encroachment.
That is why state leaders must step up and pass legislation that will guard this treasure, its pristine nature and its diverse animal life including the American alligator.
The Okefenokee falls under the jurisdiction of U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Georgia and Florida environmental authorities.
In Georgia, state leaders now have a new reason to act when they didn’t in the past.
Everyday Georgians can also do their part to champion World Heritage Sites such as the Okefenokee as advocates, educators and visitors
New governor and legislature should act to preserve Okefenokee
As recently as 2025, the Okefenokee habitat faced the threat of titanium mining.
That is why the AJC editorial board last summer lauded the Conservation Fund and its foundation partners for protecting a portion of the Okefenokee from the proposed mining.
The board also encouraged Gov. Brian Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly to support legislation to protect the refuge, which enjoyed broad bipartisan support. The governor did not support the legislation — a decision for which we criticized him. Thankfully, this inaction did not yield harm.
However, we wish the governor would have given his full-throated support to the UNESCO bid and state legislation, but that responsibility now falls to his successor.
When the next governor assumes office in January, he or she should work with the Georgia General Assembly to pass laws that make protecting the Okefenokee a priority.
- That includes a ban on mining in the refuge.
- That also means creating a forest policy that balances preservation and property rights, which concerns landowners.
- Georgia’s leaders should also encourage visitors in and out of the state to enjoy the Okefenokee.
On the first, in 2025, Georgia House lawmakers proposed the Okefenokee Protection Act (House Bill 561), which would have prohibited the state from issuing, modifying or renewing mining permits in the refuge. The bill failed to advance. Bring it back in the 2027-2028 legislative session.
On the point of forest policy, Charlton County Commissioner Drew Jones wrote a guest opinion column for the AJC in 2025 calling on the state to address issues such as timber being taxed at 100% of its market value at harvest.
The next governor and lawmakers should review this tax to ensure it still makes sense and then take appropriate action.
The World Heritage Site status also provides nonprofits, individuals and other organizations a world-class cause to raise funds for and promote the Okefenokee.
The designation isn’t permanent. UNESCO has delisted two sites in the past: Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman in 2007 because of poaching and habitat loss and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009 due to the construction of a four-lane bridge.
This creates great urgency for Georgia citizens and state leaders to ensure that the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge remains pristine and of “outstanding universal value.”