Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 1
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, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmenistan State News Agency May 1.
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.