New 7 Wonders of Nature
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New7Wonders of Nature (2007–2011) was an initiative started in 2007 to create a list of seven natural wonders chosen by people through a global poll. It was led by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber[1] and organized by the New7Wonders Foundation,[2] a Swiss-based foundation. The initiative followed the New Seven Wonders of the World, and attracted 100 million votes from around the world before voting finished on November 11 2011.[3]
Stages of the campaign
The New7Wonders of Nature campaign started in 2007, immediately after the campaign to elect the man-made New7Wonders of the World, in which more than 100 million votes were cast. From over 440 participants representing over 220 countries and through a national qualification and race to become one of the Top 77, as well as the recommendations of the Panel of Experts led by Prof. Federico Mayor, the list of 28 "Official Finalist Candidates" was determined. Voting until November 2011, during which time the New7Wonders World Tour planned to visit each of the finalists to allow them to present themselves to the voters across the globe.
The process of confirming the New7Wonders of Nature results includes the following steps:
1. The validation of the national phone and SMS voting results, after which preliminary confirmed status is granted to the relevant New7Wonder of Nature, which has now been completed.
2. The preparation and implementation of the Official Inauguration events for each New7Wonder of Nature to be confirmed.
3. The verification of the total worldwide calculation, to be completed once all national phone and SMS voting results from all over the world are validated.
Each confirmed New7Wonder of Nature will host an Official Inauguration at the location and in the capital city, during which the Official New7Wonders of Nature Plaque will be ceremonially presented as final confirmation of the status as one of the Official New7Wonders of Nature as voted by the people of the world. Official Inaugurations have already taken place for Puerto Princesa Underground River, Ha Long Bay, and Iguazu Falls - please see news.n7w.com for more details.
Total voting set a new world record for N7W, many hundreds of millions of votes and a multiple of the votes achieved in our first campaign to elect the man-made New 7 Wonders of the World declared in 2007. We will update on the exact number of votes once the confirmation, validation and verification process is fully completed, expected to be later in 2012.
- Below are the New7Wonders of Nature, based on the results announced at the N7W headquarters in Zurich on 11/11/11.
Criticisms
Indonesia's Vice-Minister for Tourism said the company running the New7Wonders campaign used underhanded tactics, threatening to remove Indonesia's Komodo National Park from the list if Indonesia refused to host a declaration ceremony for $35m.[4] Nothing in the New7Wonders voting procedure prohibited repetitive voting, making the results subject to government and tourism industry campaigns to vote often for local sites with the financial incentive of increased tourism. Although New7Wonders is a non-profit organisation, that under Swiss law has absolutely no disclosure of accounts, many activities related to administering voting and other logistical duties are run by the for-profit organisation New Open World Corporation.
