The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Documents WHC/24/46.COM/8B and WHC/24/46.COM/INF.8B2,
- Inscribes Badain Jaran Desert - Towers of Sand and Lakes, China, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (vii) and (viii);
- Adopts the following Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
Brief synthesis
The property covers an area of 726,291.41 ha, with a buffer zone of 891,114.36 ha. Badain Jaran Desert, located in the Alashan Plateau in the hyper-arid and temperate desert region of northwestern China, is the third largest desert in China and hosts an irreplaceable natural heritage of lake and dune desert features. It stands out with its high density of mega-dunes, including the tallest stabilized sand dunes in the world, a myriad of interdunal lakes, and a range of aeolian landform features. The mega-dunes form an undulating landscape, among which the tallest sand dune achieves a relative height of 460 m. For a sandy desert and sand sea, Badain Jaran is home to abundant plant life and mostly nocturnal animal life. The lakes are mostly saline and diversely coloured, providing a favourable habitat for thriving worms, molluscs, crustacea and some fish.
Due to its geographical location and geological background, the property is strongly influenced by climate change and the continuing tectonic uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Its desert-forming process is continuing, so that the site and its relics offer insights into long-term climatic changes and desert forming processes. The size and integrity of the site is important in understanding its ongoing evolution.
The property holds outstanding aesthetic values thanks to the significant abundance of mega-dunes, aeolian landscape diversity and to the uniqueness of its lakes.
Criterion (vii): Badain Jaran Desert - Towers of Sand and Lakes display spectacular ongoing geological and geomorphic features of desert landscapes and landforms subject to a temperate, hyper-arid climate. These features create exceptional aesthetic values emerging from the dense range of stabilized, linear, and parallel mega-dunes with numerous inter-dunal lakes as well as various types of smaller dunes in-between the mega-dunes. 144 inter-dunal lakes exhibit a myriad of colours, caused by different levels of salinity and microbial communities. With an exceptional expanse of so-called singing sands (describing the resonance caused e.g. by wind moving dry and loose sand), the property also presents a remarkable soundscape. Wind-eroded landforms, oases, ripple effects and the grandeur of the world’s tallest sand mega-dunes (relative relief of 460 m) compose a landscape of remarkable natural beauty. The dynamic of shifting sand dunes creates an ever-changing visual environment.
Criterion (viii): The property is located at the junction of three sandy regions of China and provides an outstanding example of the ongoing evolution of desert landscapes and landforms under a temperate and hyper-arid climate. It records and displays an exceptional variety of aeolian features and desert geomorphology, such as linear and parallel, stabilized mega-dunes and associated inter-dunal lakes. The property appears to be a very rare example at global scale that reflects the evolutionary landforms as a combined result of regional tectonism and hydrogeological changes associated with climatic evolution. The property also stands out due to the remarkable stability of its linear mega-dunes and the abundance of inter-dunal lakes. It boasts the densest collection of stabilized mega-dunes globally, encompassing among the tallest sand dunes and the highest concentration of inter-dunal lakes found anywhere on Earth. With 144 inter-dunal lakes and the considerable variety of dune formations, the property hosts a remarkable geodiversity. Both IUCN’s 2011 thematic study on desert landscapes and IUCN’s 2021 study on the application of criterion (viii) highlighted the property as one of the most significant desert landscapes and geomorphological sites, not currently represented on the World Heritage List.
Integrity
The property covers the continuous distribution area of mega-dunes and associated inter-dunal lakes, as well as other types of desert features. The vast area is large enough to protect the complete range of the necessary elements that convey the Outstanding Universal Value of the property. The area also covers a significant expanse of the desert ecosystem which is used sustainably. The buffer zone provides additional protection to the property and does not contain any potential pollution sources.
Most of the property is in an uninhabited natural desert state, though a few families of herdsmen with some camels, goats, donkeys, and sheep herds inhabit and traditionally use the property in a sustainable way. The property represents a wide and wild area with no paved roads. Towns, factories, and any potential threats are all excluded from the property and buffer zone. Impacts from tourism are controlled and limited to the property’s carrying capacity. To ensure the integrity of the inter-dunal lakes, it is essential to ensure that all groundwater sources feeding the lakes are carefully managed and not over-exploited. Further research needs to investigate the groundwater sources and inform potential additional action.
Protection and management requirements
The property is protected through several layers of protective designations. These include one autonomous region-level scenic site and two autonomous region-level nature reserves and designations as UNESCO Global Geopark and as National Geopark. The protection of the property is extended through national nature reserve status for the entire property. In addition, the property is also protected by a range of national, autonomous region-level, and local-level laws and regulations. Local regulations and a management plan have also been developed specifically for the property. The property shall also receive the highest level of legal protection as a national park.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People’s Government establishes a World Heritage Management Committee to assure coordinated leadership over the protection and management of the property and buffer zone. The management institutions involved in the protection of the property are integrated into of the Badain Jaran Desert World Heritage Management Office, which is responsible for the daily protection and management of the property. Local functional departments, monitoring agencies, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other research institutes provide technical support, and are specifically responsible for the monitoring, research and protection of the property.
Local regulations and a Management Plan have been developed specifically for the property. The State Party undertakes to strictly protect the property and buffer zone, ensuring the integrity of all the natural values and elements. Specific measures include, firstly, strengthening the monitoring and scientific research on natural values and elements such as sand dunes, lakes and vegetation, and implementing adaptive management. Secondly to establish and improve the monitoring system and database for the property, and carry out targeted protection and control measures. Thirdly, local people will be involved in the team for protection, co-management, monitoring and public education. Fourthly, community participation will be strengthened and, fifthly, the balance between heritage protection and local social and economic sustainable development shall be achieved, including through sustainable eco-tourism whilst strictly control the scale and behaviour of tourists to ensure that the impact of tourism on the natural heritage values remains minimal.
- Welcomes the decision of the State Party to include the property in a future national park and requests that the State Party submits a minor boundary modification request in case the national park boundaries could further enable the improvement of the property’s boundaries, and also requests the State Party to ensure that the local communities, including traditional herders, are fully consulted, involved and in agreement with this proposal, and that such a designation ensures that the herders are able to maintain and continue their traditional activities within the property.