The documents for the nomination "Tajik national park (Mountains of the Pamir)" have been submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The preparation of the nomination was completed during the working visit of the expert of the Natural Heritage Protection Fund to Dushanbe on 20-23 January. The "Tajik national park" may become the first site of Tajikistan on the World Heritage List.
The nominated territory is located within the special protection zone of the Tajik national park with the surface of more than 1,226,000 ha and features a number of natural phenomena of global importance. The "Tajik national park (Mountains of the Pamir)" is nominated according to the four natural criteria.
The specificity of the nominated property is revealed in several aspects:
- The territory includes several natural phenomena of global significance, such as: Somoni Peak - the highest point in the countries of former USSR and CIS; Fedchenko Glacier - one of the largest mountainous-valley glaciers in the world; Lake Sarez, located at the height of over 3000 m - one of the highest mountain lakes among the biggest lakes in the world.
- Significant territories in Pamir are covered with cold continental deserts. This extremely interesting and specific biome is not reflected in the modern List of UNESCO. The "Tajik national park" may become the first object on the List as a good example of this biome.
- It is one of the highest regions of our planet up to 7,500 m high. "Tajik national park" may become the third highest Natural World Heritage site following the Sagarmatha and Nanda-Devi Parks in the Himalaya.
- It is one of the world centers of mountainous glaciations, where the large storages of high-quality fresh water are concentrated in glaciers and mountainous lakes.
- The beauty of the Pamir highland landscapes is unique. The main elements of their landscape are the typical Alpine relief forms, large mountainous glaciers, small and big lakes. The extraordinary combination of the classic high-mountainous (greatly splitted) relief with the vast high plateaus adds to the exotic flavour of the territory.
The nomination "Tajik national park (Mountains of the Pamir)" was prepared in 2005-2008 by the State Department on Natural Protected Areas of Tajikistan and the Natural Heritage Protection Fund, with the financial support from the UNESCO World Heritage Fund.