BISHKEK (TCA) — The UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on July 17, the last day of its 40th session which opened on 10 July in Istanbul, Turkey, inscribed eight new sites on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List including Western Tien-Shan, a transnational site shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, UNESCO said.
The other newly inscribed natural sites are in Canada, Chad, China, Iraq, Iran, Mexico and Sudan.
Western Tien-Shan transnational site is located in the Tien-Shan mountain system, one of the largest mountain ranges in the world. Western Tien-Shan is situated at an altitude of 700 to 4,503 meters above sea level. It features diverse landscapes, which are home to exceptionally rich biodiversity. It is of global importance as a centre of origin for a number of cultivated fruit crops and is home to a great diversity of forest types and unique plant community associations, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee said.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
Last week the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee added Uzbekistan’s Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz to the List of World Heritage in Danger due to the over-development of tourist infrastructure in the site.
