Supporting Azerbaijan and Iran in the transnational expansion of the Hyrcanian Forests World Heritage Site

Following the successful inscription of the "Hyrcanian Forests" in Iran as a serial World Heritage Site in July 2019, the governments of Azerbaijan and Iran decided to carry out a follow-up project to jointly extend the World Heritage Site to include the remaining parts of these ancient forests in Azerbaijan. This project supported Azerbaijan in the preparation of a nomination dossier and advised Iran on the realisation of the requirements of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee formulated in Decision 43COM 8B.4.

The development of a possible transboundary management and the ongoing cooperation between the individual parts of the now transnational serial World Heritage site are outstanding successes of this project. The project also contributed to a better understanding and awareness of the importance of these unique forests with social media campaigns, printed materials, local events, a festival, an image film and an online photo exhibition.