Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 12
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
The work is underway to include the Turkmen Karakum Desert into the UNESCO World Heritage List, as a unique ecological system, the Turkmen national TV channel “Turkmenistan” reported July 12.
The Karakum (means "black sand" in Turkmen) Desert covers most of the territory of Turkmenistan - 350,000 square kilometers and is one of the biggest sand deserts in the world. The unique ecosystem includes the Zaunguz Karakum, the Central Karakum, the Lowland Karakum and the South-East Karakum.
Unique historic-cultural monuments of Turkmenistan such as Ancient Merv, Kunya Urgench and Ancient Nisa were included to the UNESCO World Heritage List earlier.
Kusht Depdi, a Turkmen national art of singing and dancing, was included to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2017.
Work is in progress to include the Akhal-Teke horse breeding to the list as well, and Koytendag ecosystem and Badkhyz State Nature Reserve to the UNESCO Natural Heritage List.