Geodiversity of the Lut Desert World Heritage Site and its Conservation Necessity

Geodiversity has been defined as diversity of geological, geomorphological, soil and hydrological characteristics. The Lut desert as the first natural property in Iran was inscribed on UNESCO s world heritage list in 2016. The main aim of the present study is to geodiversity elements inventories of the Lut Desert World Heritage Site, the necessity and how to conservation it. Geodiversity elements of the Lut desert were identified and inventory through field survey, aerial survey, satellite imagery, geological maps and previous studies. The results showed that the most important of geodiversity elements in the Lut desert is include Rig-e Yellan (Yallan sand sea), Kalut (yardang), Kalutak (small yarding), Nebkha, Hamada, Shur River, Badland, Salt plain, Basaltic plain of Gandom Beryan, dreamy city of the Lut. The Lut desert geodiversity include phenomena and features that are related to each other, and destroying a natural site, or part of it, means the permanent loss of its natural, cultural, tourist, and scientific value. Therefore, in addition to the development of an operational plan of geodiversity conservation in the Lut desert world heritage site, it is necessary that all stakeholders, including local communities, government, private sector, civil society and NGOs have an effective involvement to conservation this universal natural property for future generations.

Keywords:

World Heritage , Geodiversity , Conservation , Lut desert