TEHRAN – A joint meeting of the Steering Council for Iran’s UNESCO-registered Hyrcanian Forest and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Council was held online on Tuesday.

Strategies to improve the protection of the UNESCO-tagged forest and its accurate demarcation as well as the ways of preserving the forest, based on UNESCO standards were discussed during the meeting, Iran’s deputy tourism minister Mohammad-Hassan Talebian announced on Thursday.

Spanning from the south of Azerbaijan to about 850 km eastward to the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan, the Hyrcanian Forests are witnesses of the ancient forests of the world estimated to be survived for a long period spanning 35 and 50 million years.

Designated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in December 2019, the Hyrcanian Forest (also known as Caspian Forest) contains very rich ecosystems due to the particular orographic and climatic situation (precipitation rich, warm-temperate, high moisture from the Caspian Sea and damming effect of the Alborz Mountain range).

According to UNESCO, the forest contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity with 69 mammal species and 304 bird species, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. It also contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.

ABU/MG