The eighth conference on UNESCO's consideration of the world heritage status of ancient Hyrcanian forests in northern Iran is slated to end today in Golestan Province.
"The two-day meeting is held in cooperation with the Department of Environment, Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization, Iran National Commission for UNESCO and Tarbiat Modares University," director of Golestan Province's ICHHTO office Ebrahim Karimi said on Sunday.
Iran filed Hyrcanian forests in its northern line to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List four months ago and to assess that application, Karimi said, "UNESCO experts are traveling to Iran in late August or early September in line with UNESCO regulations."
"The meeting was aimed at discussing plans to provide local communities with necessary training and review local issues prior to the arrival of UNESCO experts," he was quoted as saying by ILNA.
The conference was attended by representatives from Germany's Michael Succow Foundation and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and a number of Iranian officials, including Mohammad Hassan Talebian, ICHHTO's deputy for cultural heritage, and Farhad Nazari, director general of the Office for Inscriptions and Preservation and Revitalization of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Following the seminar, foreign participants are scheduled to visit Golestan National Park, Jahan Nama village, Cloud Jungle and other tourist sites of Golestan Province.
The Caspian Hyrcanian forests stretch around the southern coast of the Caspian Sea covering the provinces of North Khorasan, Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan and Ardabil. They have been on UNESCO's tentative World Heritage List since 2007.
