The Virgin Komi Forests
719
Russian Federation
N(ii) (iii)
The Committee inscribed the nominated property on the basis of criteria (ii) and (iii), considering the site among the most important natural sites in the boreal forest region. The site has pristine boreal forests and is an important site for scientific research including climate change.
The Committee decided to inscribe an area of 3.28 million ha, which is fully protected as a National Park, Zapovednik and buffer zone. It requested the Centre to write to the national authorities to encourage them to upgrade the legal status of an additional 700,000 ha so that this adjacent area could be incorporated in the site. It furthermore commended the national authorities for their conservation efforts as well as those of Greenpeace, WWF and the Swiss Government for their assistance in strengthening the management of this area.