Photos: Top 10: Places to see before they vanish

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Carteret Islands
The Carteret Islands are Papua New Guinea islands located 86 km north-east of Bougainville in the South Pacific. The atoll has a scattering of low-lying islands called Han, Jangain, Yesila, Yolasa and Piul, in a horseshoe shape stretching 30 km in north-south direction, with a total land area of 0.6 square kilometers and a maximum elevation of 1.5 m above sea level. Scientists predicted that these islands were the first populated ones to disappear, in about eight years' time.

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Abu Mena
Abu Mena is located south of Alexandria, between Wadi el-Natrun and Alexandria itself. The church, baptistry, basilicas, public buildings, streets, monasteries, houses and workshops in this early Christian holy city were built over the tomb of the martyr Menas of Alexandria, who died in AD 296.

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Bam, Iran
Bam is situated in a desert environment on the southern edge of the Iranian high plateau. The origins of Bam can be traced back to the Achaemenid period (6th to 4th centuries BC). Its heyday was from the 7th to 11th centuries, being at the crossroads of important trade routes and known for the production of silk and cotton garments. The existence of life in the oasis was based on the underground irrigation canals, the qanats, of which Bam has preserved some of the earliest evidence in Iran. Arg-e Bam is the most representative example of a fortified medieval town built in vernacular technique using mud layers (Chineh ).

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Historic Town of Zabid
Zabid's domestic and military architecture and its urban plan make it an outstanding archaeological and historical site. Besides being the capital of Yemen from the 13th to the 15th century, the city played an important role in the Arab and Muslim world for many centuries because of its Islamic university. Zabid is one of the coastal towns in Tehama area west of Yemen, sitting on a rise above the river junction and the fertile flood plain. It is a circular fortified town with four remaining gates, which was supplied with water by extensive canals. It was already flourishing when Islam was established in the region in the 7th century. Its development is due to Ibn Ziyad (the founder of the Zyadite dynasty), who was sent to the region by the Caliph al-Mamun in 820 AD to quell a rebellion.

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Switzerland's glaciers
All glaciers are located within the Swiss Alps. Most of them are situated in the Pennine and Bernese Alps. The Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area is the most glaciated area in the Alps. Switzerland's glaciers have shrunk by 12 per cent in a decade, according to scientists in Zurich. The findings of a study reported in the journal Global and Planetary Change show that there is now more water in Lake Geneva than in the country's glaciers.