Decision 45 COM 8B.30

Tugay Forests of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve (Tajikistan)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Documents WHC/23/45.COM/8B and WHC/23/45.COM/INF.8B2,
2. Inscribes the Tugay Forests of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, Tajikistan, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criterion (ix);
3. Adopts the following Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
   
   

   Brief synthesis

   The Tugay Forests of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is located in the interfluve of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers in southwestern Tajikistan at the border of Afghanistan. The confluence continues as the Amu Darya, the largest river in Central Asia, running to the Aral Sea. The Reserve includes extensive riparian tugay ecosystems, the sandy Kashka-Kum desert, the Buritau peak, as well as the low (1,000-1,200 m a.s.l.) mountains of the southern spurs of the Aruktau range – the Hodja-Kaziyon mountains. The area of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is 49,786 hectares and its buffer zone is 17,672 hectares. The property is composed of a series of floodplain terraces covered by alluvial soils, comprising tugay riverine forests with very specific biodiversity in the valley. Significantly, the property preserves a natural Asiatic poplar tugay vegetation complex.

   Criterion (ix): The natural complex of Tigrovaya Balka is an outstanding example of continuous ecological and biological processes taking place in the evolution and development of desert-tugay biocenoses and their characteristic plant and animal communities. The reserve hosts various ecological units, not only tugay lowland forests, but also steppe and semi-desert areas and their various ecotones where many stenoeceous species of flora are found. The reserve’s forests, sandy and saline semi-deserts, piedmont semi-savannas, and various wetlands are dynamically adapting to changes in the hydrological regime of the territory. There are several habitats in the reserve: tugay riverine forests, freshwater bodies and marshes, semi-deserts, takirs and solonchaks.

   The complex features water-resistant and thermophilic, salt-tolerant trees and shrubs such as the Asiatic Poplar or Blue Poplar, the Dzhida or Oleaster, the Multiramose Tamarix. Wildlife includes Bactrian Deer, whose population in the reserve exceeds 300; Goitered Gazelle, Striped Hyena, Gray Monitor, Tajik Black-and-gold Pheasant, and many waterfowl, completing the largely intact tugay ecosystem. The 24,100 hectares of tugay forests in the reserve represent the largest and most intact tugay forest of this type in Central Asia, and this is the only place in the world where the Asiatic poplar tugay ecosystem has been preserved in its original state over an area of this size.

   Integrity

   The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is an integral natural complex, the main components of which are inseparably associated with each other by the common origin and dynamics of natural development, and includes the elements necessary to express its Outstanding Universal Value. The reserve presents ecosystems of tugay floodplain forests, sandy and saline semi-deserts, foothill low-grass semi-savannas and wetlands, with the spectrum of characteristic flora and fauna. The size of the property (49,786 ha) is sufficient to support the sustainable functioning of tugay ecosystems. The buffer zone of the reserve (17,672 ha), though narrow in places, provides additional guarantees of the integrity of the property.

   The integrity of the property depends on the riparian dynamics of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, with the Vakhsh being the most important but also the most modified by eight dams. These dams change inter-seasonal and inter-annual flow dynamics reducing the flooding on which riparian tugay ecosystems depend. Only the section along the Panj river is still under some influence of natural riparian dynamics but their riparian woodlands are of limited size. The water balance is now partly supported by secondary water sources from irrigation systems. The water regime within the property has been restored to the extent that the property’s integrity is ensured, but the matter requires constant attention and action.

   Biophysical processes and properties of the natural landscape of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve are indirectly affected by economic activities (irrigated agriculture and cattle grazing) conducted in adjacent lands, but at the time of inscription they have not significantly impacted the property and their water footprint has been greatly reduced.

   Protection and management requirements

   The property has had the status of a state nature reserve since 1938, the highest nature protection status of Tajikistan, corresponding to IUCN category Ia. The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is a structural subdivision of the State Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and operates in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Specially Protected Natural Territories” of 27 November 2014. The protection of the reserve is the responsibility of a special inspection service, consisting of 30 rangers and 5 senior rangers, who conduct daily rounds and night patrols. Agriculture, animal husbandry and other economic activities are strictly forbidden within the property’s boundaries, but do occur in the adjacent territories. The nature protection institution for the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve has the necessary material and human resources to ensure undisturbed natural processes within the property.

   Operational protection and preservation of the property’s Outstanding Universal Value is carried out by reserve managers according to medium-term management plans, which define specific measures for protection, scientific research, monitoring of the state of conservation, environmental education and interaction with the local population, the timing of their implementation, actors, sources of funding and expected results. Reserve managers undertake a wide range of active management projects to counter the disruption of the hydrological regime due to upstream dams. Central to this is regular clearing of channels to deliver water from the Vaksh River to and among the lakes. Maintenance of the Outstanding Universal Value is contingent on regular supply of water from upstream sources.

4. Encourages the State Party of Tajikistan to coordinate with the State Party of Afghanistan to secure water flows from the Panj River to maintain the hydrological regime of the property;
5. Requests the State Party to:
   1. Secure and maintain a natural hydrological regime for the property with sufficient provision of water to the property to maintain its Outstanding Universal Value,
   2. Assess regularly the management effectiveness of the property, including research on the hydrological regime of the Vakhsh River in relation to the property,
   3. Enhance management capacity of the Nature Reserve with special focus on community engagement.