Shirin Karryeva, CLLC Project Manager
On January 30, 2025, an online meeting was held at the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan (MOEPT) with representatives from the Michael Succow Foundation for Nature Conservation (MSF, Germany), the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC, USA), Slovak Speleological Society, French Côte d’Azur University, Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change of Uzbekistan, Surkhan State Nature Reserve of Uzbekistan, Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan, and CLLC project implementers.
The meeting’s purpose was to discuss the preparation of the nomination of Koytendag and Surkhan State Nature Reserves as a transnational UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. The nomination of Koytendag Reserve to the UNESCO World Heritage List is a priority for Turkmenistan, and this work has been ongoing for several years.
Initially, the national nomination dossier “Koytendag Mountain Ecosystem” was developed in collaboration with experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB, UK) and submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2015. After technical review by experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it was recommended to submit a transnational nomination jointly with the Surkhan Reserve to maintain the integrity of the entire Kugitang mountain ecosystem. They also highlighted the lack of integrity of the nominated site in Turkmenistan and territorial issues. They developed recommendations for further implementation and resubmission of the dossier.
In recent years, through projects supported by various foundations and international organizations, several joint scientific expeditions have been conducted, resulting in new data on Koytendag’s biodiversity. Despite incomplete study (especially of invertebrates), Koytendag’s flora and fauna stand out for their diversity and contain many species, including threatened “Red Book” species and endemics of national and international importance, such as the markhor (spiral-horned goat), mountain sheep, lynx, black vulture, saker falcon, Starostin’s loach, and others.
In 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), under which the project “Improving Capacity and Connectivity between Reserves of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan” is being implemented, funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). The project aims to promote biodiversity conservation in the Koytendag mountain ecosystem, strengthen reserve capacity, support scientific data collection, conduct joint monitoring, and implement SMART patrolling in Koytendag State Nature Reserve.
SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) was first implemented by Koytendag Reserve staff in 2022. Inspectors conduct daily patrols using SMART.
Within the project framework, an initial ecosystem connectivity analysis was conducted, and a new map was created for planning Koytendag Reserve’s connectivity with other important areas, transboundary and buffer zones to create opportunities for wildlife movement, migration, and inter-population exchange.
To exchange experience in protection, inspection, and monitoring of natural territories of the Surkhan Reserve, specialists from Turkmenistan made a working visit to Termez city and Surkhan State Nature Reserve in Uzbekistan as part of the project. Issues related to the transnational nomination were discussed, and subsequent joint activities were planned.
The results of these and upcoming activities will ultimately be reflected in developing a new transnational nomination dossier jointly with colleagues from Uzbekistan, experts from the M. Succow Foundation, international and national CLLC project experts, taking into account the new requirements of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention.///nCa, 31 January 2025 (Photo credits: Annamamedov I., Karryeva Sh., Mengliev Sh., Holden D.)