Since 1975, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named more than 900 sites forming part of the cultural and natural heritageand considered as "having outstanding universal value." From the wild of East Africa's Serengeti to the archaeologicalsites of Angkor, the World Heritage List spotlights the planet's most beautiful places.

In a conference in Qatar, which began on June 15, UNESCO named new World Heritage Sites around the world, including one in the United States — the Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point, located in the lower Mississippi Valley. The announcement brought the number of protected global treasures to 1,001.

One of the sites inscribed this year include the ancient pre-Incan road,Qhapac Ñan, a communication, trade and defense network of roads covering 30,000 kilometres. The road is 3,000 years old and spans the length and breadth of the Andes mountain range in six countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

And while a number of sites like the Qhapac Nan are inscribed every year, there are also many World Heritage sites are endangered by climate change.

According to a study released in March 2014 by thePotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Innsbruck, 20 percent of the places on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites could be inundated by rising global sea levels if nothing is done to stem the tide of rising greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Authors of the study cited particularly vulnerable sites, which included the leaning tower of Pisa — which is not directly on the coast but would be affected by sea level rises as a result of even a low temperature increase because it is very low-lying — and Venice and Hanseatic League cities including Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen in Germany, according to the Guardian.

Explore the newest World Heritage sites by clicking through the slideshow above. And then see 50 of the most beautiful sites by clicking through the slideshow below. Which ones have you visited? Which World Heritage site would you add to your bucket list?

MORE: 50 Most Stunning World Heritage Sites