Seville, Spain - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Monday began a nine-day meeting in Spain, where about 30 cultural or natural sites were seeking inclusion as World Heritage landmarks.

The 21-member World Heritage Committee was meeting in the southern city of Seville to review the World Heritage Site list that now includes 878 sites from 145 countries.

Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley was expected to lose its World Heritage status after the city of Dresden rejected a deadline from UNESCO to halt the construction of a steel highway bridge across the river valley.

Sites seeking recognition included the Dolomites mountains in Italy, the Paraty Gold Trail in Brazil and the historic centre of the Austrian city of Graz.

The committee was not expected to take a definitive decision on the eventual inclusion of the work of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier on the World Heritage list.

Even if Germany loses Dresden as a World Heritage treasure, it could get a new site if the committee accepts the inclusion of Wattenmeer wetland as one of central Europe's last remaining original natural landscapes. (dpa)