^{Image: CL4USTROPHOBIA/Shutterstock}

The World Heritage Committee has being meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with representatives of 21 member countries gathered to choose candidate entries from a list of global nominations. And to assess progress with the status of existing sites: after all their protection is the whole ethos underpinning the idea of listing sites in the first place. 

The headline announcements carried most widely by the world’s press so far have tended to focus on the committee’s decision to classify Kyiv’s St Sophia Cathedral and the historical city core of Lviv (both in Ukraine) as UNESCO sites at risk, due to the perils of the Russian invasion.  The historic centre of Odesa had already received this status in January. However, Monday’s happier news included the first batch of new World Heritage Sites. With the meeting due to continue until September 25, it’s probable that to the 27 so far announced, several others will be added. 

In the Caspian Region countries there are three completely new entries. 

Central Asia’s Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor

The “Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor” is a 866km stretch of the classic Silk Road through Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan described as following the ancient caravan roads crossing the Karakum Desert to the Merv Oasis as well as along the Zarafshan River, parts of it through rugged mountains and uninhabitable desert creating a “melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, religions, sciences, and technologies”. The catch-all category would appear helpful in providing interest in preserving lesser known archaeological sites along this route which don’t benefit from the obvious tourist potential of higher profile Silk Road cities like Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.

Iran's Caravanserais

Caravanserais were the motels of the medieval era. When trade moved slowly using pack animals, safe overnight accommodation required large enclosed courtyards in which both merchants, animals and cargo would be safe from marauders, human or wild. The Caspian Post has described at some length the caravanserais of the Caucasus and there were plenty more in Central Asia but many of the classic caravanserais to have been well preserved are in the desserts of Iran. UNESCO’s announcement includes 54 of these that are “considered to be the most influential and valuable examples… revealing a wide range of architectural styles, adaptation to climatic conditions, and construction materials” across many different historical epochs. 

Azerbaijan’s Köç Yolu Transhumance Route

The use of the Azerbaijani term “Köç Yolu” in the title might baffle readers less familiar with the region, but the term essentially means ‘Migration Road’ and refers to what UNESCO describes as a cultural landscape, ie that of semi nomadic shepherds moving between the summer pastures of the Greater Caucasus and winter grazing in central Azerbaijan. There are several sub routes in existence but the UNESCO one specifies the one that focuses on people from the remarkable village of Xinaliq (Khinalug) which has managed to maintain its own distinct language. Xinaliq itself had originally been nominated in its own right as a World Heritage Site back in 2020 but the nomination was adjusted to broaden the scope to recognize the remarkable transhumance of the inhabitants as a uniquely valuable way of life. The designation should also give a useful UNESCO umbrella to valuable locations in the winter pasture areas around the Pirsaat Reservoir  (notably the Pir Hussein khanagah) as well as to vulnerable features in the ‘buffer zone’ of the migration route including the Zoroastrian site at Sohub. 

Azerbaijan’s Hyrcanian Forests

Azerbaijan also gets further UNESCO recognition as two thickly forested areas of the Hirkan National Park have been included as extensions to the existing listed areas of similar Caspian forests on the Iran side of the border. Together these form “a unique forested massif that stretches along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea” with a history that could date back as much as 50 million years and individual trees as much as 300-500 years old. 

The names of the two new areas mentioned in the UNESCO paper are likely to be unfamiliar even to some Azerbaijanis as they refer to remote forest locations which, by definition, are well away from the destructive presence of major settlements. Approximately speaking Dangyaband, the first area, is a few kilometers north of Piran on the Lenkoran-Lerik road. The İstisuchay Valley refers to the beautiful mossy woodlands around the roadless village of Siyov accessible only on foot from Astara Istisu. That’s home to Babakhan, the famous ‘Leopard Man’ who first led photographers to record the last surviving Caucasian Leopards which still live in the remotest corners of the forest.