 Protection of the Palm Grove remained largely unregulated until 1986, when the Valencian regional government issued the current Law on the Protection of the Elche Palm Grove, regulating the traditional uses and protecting the Palm Grove from any changes potentially affecting its traditional layout and maintenance.In 2000, the UNESCO designated the Palm Grove as a World Heritage Site citing the transfer of landscape and agricultural practices from one culture and continent to another (Moorish North Africa to Christian Europe).In 2005, it was discovered that the larvae of the red palm weevil ("Rhynchophorus ferrugineus") had infested some trees, laying its eggs inside the stems.