Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 30 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
Turkmenistan plans to join the Executive Board of UNESCO in 2013-2015, the "Neutral Turkmenistan" newspaper reported on Saturday.
"The priority throughout many years of interaction (with UN), aimed at preserving the national and world cultural heritage and natural sites, is launching work on the nomination of Turkmenistan as a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO in 2013-2015," the report says.
As you know, the World Heritage List includes ancient settlements Old Urgench (Khorezm), Merv (Seljuk Empire) and the Old Nisa (Parthia), which are located in the territory of Turkmenistan At present, a whole series of proposals of Turkmenistan is actively worked out, in particular on including one of the largest sand deserts in the world - the Kara-Kum in the UNESCO list.
The UNESCO headquarters in Paris (France) is studying the possibility of including the State Reserve Badkhyz, located in the south of the country, in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Badkhyz, an area of which is nearly one hundred thousand hectares, is home to such endangered species of fauna, as a gazelle, Turkmen mountain sheep, wild ass, striped hyena, caracal, manul, leopard, serpent eagle, golden eagle, cat snake - about forty species of mammals, more than thirty species of reptiles and more than two hundred species of birds.
One can see more than a thousand species of unique plants, among which seventy-five species and subspecies - are endemic, in Badkhyz, which was founded in 1940's.