The Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan will sign a Memorandum with the Committee for Forestry and Wildlife of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan, the State Committee of Uzbekistan for Ecology and Environmental Protection in the field of management and protection of transnational objects "Turan deserts of the temperate zone", nominated in UNESCO World Heritage List. The relevant Decree was signed today by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov during a government meeting, the “Watan” news program of the Turkmen television announced.

The regional project "Central Asian Desert Initiative (CADI) - Conservation and sustainable use of the deserts of Turkmenistan" was launched in 2019. It is aimed at preserving biological diversity and developing the ecosystem functions of the deserts of Turkmenistan. It also provides for the preparation of a nomination dossier for the nomination of desert ecosystems (Turan deserts) to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The temperate deserts of Central Asia extend from the Caspian Sea to Southern Mongolia, from the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau to the steppes of Kazakhstan and are a habitat for a large number of plant and animal species, consist not only of sandy massifs, but also of salt marshes, rocky and gypsum deserts and characteristic geological formations such as chinks.

In Turkmenistan, these are the following protected natural areas: the “Bereketli Garagum” and Kaplankyr reserves, and also the Repetek Biosphere Reserve.

It should be noted that Turkmenistan has recently been actively working to include its heritage in UNESCO. Last year, the craft of making the dutar, the performing arts of playing it and the art of bakhshi were inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.