List of UNESCO nature world heritage sites in Russia

The Komi primeval forests are located in the north of the Ural Mountains in the Komi Republic. They are a UNESCO world heritage site. These are the largest untouched forests in Europe (32600km²). The forests belong to the Ural taiga ecoregion. They are located on the territory of the Pechoro-Ilychsky Reserve and the Yugyd va National Park. The place was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1995. The western part is located in the strip of foothills, the eastern part – on the mountains. Several rivers flow through the forest area. The fauna of the forests includes more than 200 species of birds, as well as many rare species of fish and mammals; the flora includes hundreds of plant species, including protected ones.

Lake Baikal was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996 and is a vast area located in the south of Eastern Siberia, near the borders with Mongolia.

The lake is characterized by a large volume of fresh water, as well as unique underwater life and beautiful views.

The Kamchatka Volcanoes site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996. The site consists of six separate sites located in the east, center and south of the peninsula, with a total area of about 3.8 million hectares. Taken together, they reflect virtually all of Kamchatka’s major volcanogenic landscapes, but each has a distinct personality. In total, the six sites contain about 30 active and 300 extinct volcanoes. The site is managed by the FGBU Kronotsky State Biosphere Reserve.

The Golden Altai Mountains site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998 and consists of five mountain areas, which are united into three separate areas with a total area of 1.64 million hectares.

The site is managed by the FGBU Altai State Natural Biosphere Reserve.

The natural massif, which has received the status of a World Heritage Site, is very vast and compact: it is almost untouched by man highlands, which once served as a place for grand-princely hunts, with an area of about 300 thousand hectares. The massif is located in the western part of the Greater Caucasus, about 50 kilometers northeast of Sochi, more precisely – in the upper reaches of the Malaya Laba and Belaya rivers, tributaries of the Kuban. The central position is occupied by one of the oldest and most famous in the country Caucasus Reserve. The heritage site includes other valuable high-mountainous areas adjacent to the reserve from the north and north-west, namely: the natural (regional) park “Bolshoi Tkhach” (3700 hectares, established in 1997) and three natural monuments of republican significance – “Buiny Ridge” (1480 hectares, 1996), the upper reaches of the rivers Pkhach and Kuban, and the upper reaches of the rivers Pskov and Kuban. ), the upper reaches of the Pshekha and Pshekhashkha Rivers (5776 hectares, 1997) and the upper reaches of the Tsitse River (1913 hectares, 1997), as well as a part of the buffer zone of the Caucasus Reserve along its northern and north-western edge (5.7 thousand hectares, 1 km wide, designated in 1981). In the mountains of the Western Caucasus there are many historical monuments of interest to tourists: sites of the Stone Age, in the meadows there are numerous traces of ancient pastoralism – the remains of koshas, pens, trails; along the ancient trade routes there are chains of ruins of medieval fortresses and temples, mainly of the Alanian time and the period of prosperity of Apsilia, a number of places are associated with the events of the Caucasian War (XIX century), the stay of outstanding cultural figures in the Caucasus. The passes of the Main Ridge preserve evidence of the battles of the Great Patriotic War.

In the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea, a narrow (400-3800m) sandy peninsula – the Curonian Spit – stretches for 98 kilometers. Its southern half is located on the territory of Russia (Kaliningrad region), where the National Park “Curonian Spit” (6.6 thousand hectares) was created in 1987. The northern half belongs to Lithuania, and here since 1991 the national park “Kurshu-Neria” (26.5 thousand hectares) has been functioning. The Curonian Spit is very valuable as a natural monument. It is one of the largest aeolian formations in the world, sand dunes reach here a height of almost 70 m and stretch literally for tens of kilometers. The Spit, located on the White Sea-Baltic Sea route of migrating birds, is also known among ornithologists – every year in spring and fall from 10 to 20 million birds fly over these places, a significant part of which stop here for rest and feeding. Many of these birds are rare and endangered species, which are included in the Red Data Books of Russia, Lithuania and the world. However, the Curonian Spit was included in the UNESCO List not under the natural or cultural-natural category (although such recommendations were made), but under the cultural heritage category as a unique cultural landscape.

The Central Sikhote-Alin site, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2001, is a unique mountainous and forested area located in the south of the Russian Far East, in Primorsky Krai, with access to the shores of the Sea of Japan. The site is managed by the FGBU “Sikhote-Alin State Natural Biosphere Reserve named after K.G.Abramov”.

In 2018, during the 42nd session, the World Heritage Committee approved the expansion of the “Central Sikhote-Alin”. It was joined by the Bikin River Valley, located about 100 km north of the existing site.

The transboundary site of Russia and Mongolia “Ubsunur Basin”, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2003, consists of 12 disparate sites with a total area of 1069 thousand hectares. Of them in Russia – seven sites on the border of the Republic of Tuva. These sites are located in different parts of the catchment area of Lake Ubsu-Nur. The site manager on the Russian side is the FGBU “Ubsunur Basin State Natural Biosphere Reserve”

The site “Natural Complex of Vrangel Island Nature Reserve” was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004.

The site includes Vrangel Island and Herald Island.

The site is managed by the Federal State Budgetary Institution “State Natural Reserve “Vrangel Island”.

The site coincides with the Putoransky State Nature Reserve, located in the northern part of Central Siberia, 100 km above the Arctic Circle. Part of this World Heritage-listed plateau contains the full range of subarctic and arctic ecosystems that survived in the isolated mountain range, including intact taiga, forest tundra, tundra and arctic desert systems, as well as a pristine cold-water lake and river systems. The main reindeer migration route passes through the site, which is an exceptional, majestic and increasingly rare natural phenomenon.

The site is managed by the FGBU Putoransky State Nature Reserve.

The Nature Park ” Lenskie Pillars” was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2012 and represents rock formations, which reach a height of about 100m and are located along the bank of the Lena River in the central part of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
The site is managed by the State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) ” Nature Park ” Lenskie Pillars “.

The reserve was established in 1987. It is located in the south-east of the Chita region in the zone of dry steppes, 300 km from Chita and 50 km from the district center – the village of Nizhny Tsasuchey. The southern border of the Reserve coincides with the Russian-Mongolian state border. The Reserve is located in southeastern Transbaikalia in the area of steppe lakes Barun-Torey and Zun-Torey on the territory of Ononsky and Borzinsky districts of Chita region.

Taking into account the importance of the Torey lakes, in 1994 the territory of the reserve was included in the composition of wetlands of international importance. In the same year an intergovernmental agreement was signed on the creation of the international reserve “Dauria”, which includes the reserve “Daursky” (Russia), “Mongol Daguur” (Mongolia) and “Dalai Lake” (China). In November 1997, the UNESCO session granted the Daursky Reserve the status of a biosphere reserve.