List of World Heritage sites in Malaysia

Situated in the lush Lenggong Valley, the property includes four archaeological sites in two clusters which span close to 2 million years, one of the longest records of early man in a single locality, and the oldest outside the African continent. It features open-air and cave sites with Palaeolithic tool workshops, evidence of early technology. The number of sites found in the relatively contained area suggests the presence of a fairly large, semi-sedentary population with cultural remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal ages.

Important both for its high biodiversity and for its karst features, Gunung Mulu National Park, on the island of Borneo in the State of Sarawak, is the most studied tropical karst area in the world. The 52,864-ha park contains seventeen vegetation zones, exhibiting some 3,500 species of vascular plants. Its palm species are exceptionally rich, with 109 species in twenty genera noted. The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 m-high sandstone pinnacle. At least 295 km of explored caves provide a spectacular sight and are home to millions of cave swiftlets and bats. The Sarawak Chamber, 600 m by 415 m and 80 m high, is the largest known cave chamber in the world.

Kinabalu Park, in the State of Sabah on the northern end of the island of Borneo, is dominated by Mount Kinabalu (4,095 m), the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. It has a very wide range of habitats, from rich tropical lowland and hill rainforest to tropical mountain forest, sub-alpine forest and scrub on the higher elevations. It has been designated as a Centre of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia and is exceptionally rich in species with examples of flora from the Himalayas, China, Australia, Malaysia, as well as pan-tropical flora.

Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca have developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West in the Straits of Malacca. The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible. With its government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka demonstrates the early stages of this history originating in the 15th-century Malay sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch periods beginning in the early 16th century. Featuring residential and commercial buildings, George Town represents the British era from the end of the 18th century. The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.

The National Park of Peninsular Malaysia (Taman Negara), originally was gazetted as Gunung Tahan Game Reserve in 1925 and in 1939 it was declared as a National Park by the British Administrators under the name ‘King George V National Park’ under Enactment 1939, to commemorate the installation of King George V in England. Historically the three parts were enacted under the respective Malay states of Kelantan, (Taman Negara Enactment (Kelantan) 1938), Pahang (Taman Negara Enactment (Pahang) 1939) and Terengganu (Taman Negara Enactment (Terengganu) 1939), and hence came under the purview of the respective Sultans of the three states and the British High Commissioner. However, after Independence in 1957 “Taman Negara” came under the jurisdiction of the King (Yang Dipertuan Agong) and the respective Sultans of the three states. Administratively it was put under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the administration and management came under the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia or PERHILITAN. The National Park was declared as ASEAN Heritage Park in the year 1984.

The FRIM Selangor Forest Park (FRIM-SFP) is a 544 ha park consisting of man-made tropical rain forest, a meandering stream (the River Kroh), waterfalls, arboreta, and botanic gardens. Today, this verdant man-made forest stands as a result of FRIM-SFP’s successful reforestation efforts that were initiated back in the 1920s. Among the most famous attractions of FRIM-SFP are the unique crown shyness phenomenon of Dryobalanops aromatica, the forest canopy walkway, the hiking and cycling trails under the shade of the giant canopy trees. The property occupies 170 ha or one third of the total area of FRIM-SFP. The property is protected by approximately 262 ha of buffer zone, and 112 ha of tertiary zone.

In the early 20th century the quartz ridge was called the Klang Gates Ridge. This informal geographical named remained until the 1980s when the quartz ridge was then better known as the Klang Gates Quartz Ridge or Permatang Kuarza Genting Kelang. On 24 June 2015 the Klang Gates Quartz Ridge was formally named the Gombak Selangor Quartz Ridge or Permatang Kuarza Gombak Selangor (PKGS) by the Selangor State Government.

The nominated site is built entirely of quartz, a natural mineral with chemical composition of silicon dioxide (SiO2), formed when residual magma crystallized and consolidated within vertical slab of dyke as the magma forced themselves through large linear fissures within massive granitic rock known as Kuala Lumpur Granite about 200 million years ago.

The most spectacular part of the quartz ridge is its protruding mid-section, which encompasses Taman Melawati, National Zoo (Zoo Negara) in the Ampang Jaya area and part of Selayang Municipal Area. From a distance, this section is said to resemble the guling ayam (cocks combs) or more dramatically, the spine of a dragon.

Pseudo-karst morphology comprising at least four shapes; the dome, table, ramp and tower may be observed on the Gombak Selangor Quartz Ridge.

The Royal Belum State Park, Perak Malaysia originally, was gazetted as Hutan Simpan Belum (Belum Forest Reserve) in 1971 and subsequently in 2007 it was regazetted in accordance with the Enakmen Perbadanan Taman Negeri Perak 2001 Sek. 6 (Section 6, Perak State Park Corporation Enactment 2001) as a State Park, stately called as the Crowning Glory of the Peninsula. In 2012, it was also gazzeted under the Enakmen Perhutanan Negeri Perak (Perak State Forestry Enactment) as well as National Heritage site which is the highest recognition accorded by the Government of Malaysia.

In the 1970s the importance of the Belum Forest Reserve was recognised for biodiversity conservation by the Colombo Plan Report and further recommendations for biodiversity conservation was made under the Third Malaysia Plan (1976-1980) and in 1988 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia (PERHILITAN). The Royal Belum State Park borders the Halabala National Park, Thailand to the north, thus making the area of about 300,000 ha of a potential transfrontier park and the Peninsular Malaysian state of Kelantan on the east. The Royal Belum State Park was gazetted in May 2007 (Enakmen Perbadanan Taman Negeri Perak 2001 Sek. 6 No. 519) for biodiversity conservation to facilitate biodiversity education, research and ecotourism. The Royal Belum State Park is only accessible by boat via the public jetty at Pulau Banding (Banding Island) which is situated at the southern part of the State Park.

The total area of the Royal Belum State Park is 117,500 ha and straddles the northern undisturbed and pristine lowland dipterocarp, hill dipterocarp and lower montane forests (up to about 1,533 m above sea level) of northern Peninsular Malaysia forming the northern and strategic component of the Central Forest Spine (CFS). The State Park is considered as one of the oldest, protected, undisturbed and pristine land mass in Peninsular Malaysia of more than 130 millions years old, relics of the geological confluence of the southern Gondwanaland supercontinent and northern Laurasian supercontinent. Geographically, about 57% of its area is located in the range of 80-300 m above sea level and 41% in the range of 300-1,533 m above sea level. There is only one main river system, Sungai (River) Perak that originates from the Perak-Kelantan border in the north-east and flows southward to the Straits of Malacca at Bagan Datoh. Among the smaller rivers that are found in the State Park and drain most of the areas are Sungai Kenarong that originates on the west, Sungai Tiang and Sungai Kejar that originate on the east of the State Park, in addition to more than hundreds of smaller tributaries and streams that feed the Lake Temengor.

Geologically, the Royal Belum State Park is situated on the eastern side of the Western Belt of Peninsular Malaysia, right along the tectonic boundary of two continental plates (Sibumasu and East Malaya plates). This area consists of diverse rock formations of mostly metamorphosed marine sedimentary rocks of Early Silurian-Devonian age (~ 440 to 400 m.y. ago) belonging to the Baling Group, and the Triassic granites. The igneous body intrusion that occurred in the Late Triassic age (ca. 220 m.y.) had lifted the area and became a land mass and physical landscape what we observed today. This intrusion and other related tectonic activities resulted from the collision of two supercontinental plates had shaped the area to what it is today as a metamorphed and uplifted Baling Group. This substratum has become the niche and habitats for the rich and diverse biodiversity in the State Park.