(CNN) -- Twelve historic sites around the world are "on the verge of vanishing" because of mismanagement and neglect, according to a new report.
The report, by San Francisco-based Global Heritage Fund (GHF), identifies nearly 200 heritage sites in developing nations as being at risk, highlighting 12 as being on the verge of irreparable loss and destruction.
Three sites in the Middle East, Iraq's Nineveh, Palestine's Hisham's Palace, and Turkey's Ani, are among those most in danger.
The ruined city of Ani, on the border of Turkey and Armenia, dates back to the 11th century. Once known as "The City of a Thousand Churches," many of its remaining buildings are now on the brink of collapse.
GHF executive director Jeff Morgan told CNN, "Ani is probably one of the top 10 sites in the world, right up there with Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat. It's incredible".
Morgan said Ani has been "caught in a political morass," because of its position on the border of two countries that don't have diplomatic relations.
Nineveh, near Mosul, in northern Iraq, was capital of the Assyrian empire from 705 to 612 B.C.. But Morgan says it is now at risk -- not from the conflict in Iraq, but from lax planning regulations that have led to around 40 percent of the archaeological site being covered by modern development.
Hisham's Palace, in the Palestinian territories, is the remains of a winter palace built by the Islamic Umayyad dynasty. It was destroyed by an earthquake around 747 A.D. and, like Nineveh, is now threatened by urban development.
"There's no expertise there to be able to care of it," said Morgan.
CNN
