Uvs Nuur Basin

Uvs Nuur Basin
Photo in the Public Domain.

The Uvs Nuur Basin covers a range of diverse ecosystems within the closed catchment of the saline Uvs Nuur lake system.

The landscapes include desert, steppe, forests, wetlands, tundra and high mountain peaks with glaciers. This diversity, combined with the absence of major human impact, is also reflected in a rich variety of plant and animal species. It supports both resident waterfowl and migrating birds. Mammal species found here include snow leopard, mountain sheep (argali), Pallas’s cat and the Siberian ibex.

Community Perspective: This site has been unreviewed so far. It consists of 12 strictly protected areas in Russia’s Tuva Republic and Mongolia.

11 Locations 0 Reviews 5 Ratings 34 Connections 10 Visitors

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Site Info

Full Name
Uvs Nuur Basin
Unesco ID
769
Country
Mongolia Russia
Inscribed
2003
Type
Natural
Criteria
9 10
Categories
Natural landscape - Rivers, Wetlands and Lakes
Link
By ID

Site History

2003 Inscribed

1990 Deferred

Bureau - Has potential for nomination but make smaller and develop Management plan for crossborder cooperation

Site Links

Unesco Website
Uvs Nuur Basin
Official Website

Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve

Related

Greenpeace on Uvs Nuur Basin

Locations

The site has 11 locations

Uvs Nuur Basin: Uvs Lake Mongolia, Mongolia
Uvs Nuur Basin: Mongun Taiga Russian Federation, Russian Federation
Uvs Nuur Basin: Oroku-Shinaa Russian Federation, Russian Federation
Uvs Nuur Basin: Aryskannyg Russian Federation, Russian Federation
Uvs Nuur Basin: Jamaalyg Russian Federation, Russian Federation
Uvs Nuur Basin: Tsugeer els Russian Federation, Russian Federation
Uvs Nuur Basin: Ular Russian Federation, Russian Federation
Uvs Nuur Basin: Tsagan shuvuut Mongolia, Mongolia
Uvs Nuur Basin: Turgen Mongolia, Mongolia
Uvs Nuur Basin: Altan els Mongolia, Mongolia
Uvs Nuur Basin: Tes River Mongolia, Mongolia

Connections

The site has

Damaged
Poaching: concerns about poaching, Illegal hunting is of some concern, however, its impact on the population of target species appears low
Ecology
Steppe: Mongolian-Manchurian Steppe. One of the best remaining natural steppe landscapes of Eurasia (AB ev Saryarka)
Snow leopard: Two of the Mongolian protected areas, Turgen Uul and Tsagaan Shuvuut, are habitats for the endangered Snow Leopard
Taiga
Bears: Brown bear
Bird Migrations: OUV: of major importance for waterfowl, as well as a stepping stone in the bird migration between Siberia and wintering ranges in China and South Asia.
Salt Flats: Torkhiologiin-Gol delta consists of desert and salt flats (UNEP-WCMC)
Inselbergs: sculptured granite inselbergs of which Yamaalyg Reserve is one (UNEP-WCMC)
Dunes: desert of fixed and shifting dunes (UNEP-WCMC)
Otters: common otter (UNEP-WCMC)
Critically endangered fauna species: Siberian crane
Strict Nature Reserve: Partly: Uvs Nuur Basin Strict Protected Area in Mongolia. "Environmental and ethnic tourism are beginning to develop. These are based on the scenery such as climbing on glaciated Mount Mongun-Taiga and on the nomadic lifestyle and its artifacts both present-day and historical. … But access to the basin is not easy, and a plan, management, infrastructure and facilities for tourism are not yet in place." (UNEP-WCMC)
Endorheic Lakes
Swamps and Marshes: "to diverse wetlands and marshlands, freshwater and saltwater systems" (OUV)
Geography
Siberia
River deltas: Uvs Lake and Ubsu-Nur include the deltas of the Tesin-Gol and Torkhiologiin-Gol rivers (UNEP-WCMC)
Glaciers: The area has a fifth of Mongolia's glaciers (UNEP-WCMC)
On a Continental Border: Asia/Europe
Human Activity
Natural sites with indigenous human population: nomadic pastoral use of the grasslands within the basin over thousands of years
Pastoralism: has been used for nomadic pastoralism for thousands of years (crit X)
Petroglyphs: At Yamaalig
Timeline
Holocene: During the Holocene, the current ecological "mix" was created.
Trivia
In Video Games: Civilization VI: Ubsunur Hollow
Visiting conditions
One thousand visitors or fewer: DD : “Controlled and uncontrolled tourism activities are affecting some of the component areas of this serial site, such as Tore-Khol Lake (IUCN Consultation, 2017) and could cause a negative impact on the natural and cultural values of the site (Schuerholz et al., 2007). However, the opportunities for large-scale tourism in the basin are currently very limited, due to its remoteness and lack of tourism infrastructure.” (IUCN Outlook 2020)
WHS Names
Named after a Lake: Uvs Lake, the largest lake in Mongolia
WHS on Other Lists
Ramsar Wetlands: Lake Uvs and its surrounding wetlands, 2004
World Biosphere Reserves: Uvs Nuur Basin (Mongolia, 1997), Ubsunorskaya Kotlovina (Russia, 1997), Uvs Lake Depression Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, Mongolia – Russian Federation (2021)
Located in a TCC Territory: Russia in Asia
Centres of Plant Diversity: CA1 Altai-Sayan - "The more than 550 higher plants include relict species and a number of plants endemic to Mongolia and the Tuva Republic, with five species endemic to the lake basin."
World Heritage Process
Slow Starters: 1990-2003 : 13 years
Ten years or more to inscribe: 1990-2003
Transboundary sites
Trans-regional WHS: Europe + Asia and the Pacific region
First inscriptions: Mongolia 2003 (with Russia)

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