The moon is listed as a heritage site in danger due to fears of potential destruction and looting caused by planned commercial travel.
The World Monuments Fund (WMF) list typically includes vulnerable cultural sites on Earth. This year's selection - the first since 2022 - includes Qhapaq Ñan, a pre-Spanish road system in the Andes. Antakya in Turkey and Japan's Noto Peninsula, which have suffered earthquakes, also made the list, the Guardian reported.
Benedicte de Montlaur, president and CEO of the WMF, said the moon was added to the 25 sites because of "increasing risks in the face of accelerating lunar activities," which the WMF said were "undertaken without adequate preservation protocols."
SpaceX launched two lunar modules on January 15 to conduct research for future missions. Only five countries - the United States, China, India, Japan and the former Soviet Union - have successfully landed on the moon since the 1960s.
Private trips to the lunar surface are expected after NASA's Artemis III mission, scheduled for mid-2027, made the first manned landing since the early 1970s. These visits and other government-funded missions are the main concern for the WMF. Of particular concern is the fact that tourists may disturb sites such as the tracks left by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
"For the first time, the Moon is included to reflect the urgent need to recognize and preserve the artifacts that bear witness to humanity's first steps beyond Earth - a defining moment in our shared history," Montlaur said.
"Items like the camera that captured the televised moon landing, the memorial disk left behind by astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, and hundreds of other objects are emblematic of this legacy, the inclusion of the moon highlights the universal need for proactive and collaborative heritage preservation strategies - whether on Earth or beyond - that reflect and preserve our collective narrative," she added.
Montlaur told Art Newspaper that amid the new age of space exploration, it is important to establish international mechanisms to protect the cultural landscape of the Moon.
"Protecting lunar heritage will prevent the damage of accelerating private and government activities in space, ensuring that these artifacts will remain for future generations," she explained.
The majority of the list is made up of sites that are located in conflict zones, such as Ukraine and Gaza, or are at risk from the climate crisis.
Included on the list is the African coast of Swahili, which includes sites such as the Old City of Lamu, Kenya; Fort Hess, Kenya, and the island of Mozambique, which is threatened by coastal erosion. WMF has also added the "historic urban structure of Gaza" which has been devastated by the war with Israel.
There are also sites that the organization believes could benefit from more sustainable tourism, such as the Orthodox monasteries in the Drino Valley in Albania, and notes that overcrowding at other sites, such as the Buddhist caves of Maijishan and Yungang in China, puts them at risk.
The 2022 list includes prehistoric cave paintings from Monte Alegre State Park in the Brazilian Amazon, the Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan in Mexico and the pre-Columbian archaeological site of Garcia Pastor in Texas. | BGNES
