A third of natural heritage sites are at risk from mining - investors can save them

Many investors are unaware of their exposure to companies with concessions overlapping world heritage sites. It's time they opened their eyes - and lobbied

Shell has seen sense. Or at least, that's what green NGOs like us want to believe. In fact, Shell says it's more about the bottom line than environmental imperative or the groundswell of public opinion - although the company seems to be privately admitting it was surprised at the scale of public opposition to drilling in the Arctic.

Whatever the real reason Shell changed course, we shouldn't relax. There are still many threats of exploration and extraction not only hanging over the Arctic but, as new research by WWF shows, nearly a third of natural world heritage sites around the world.