Iran’s Magnificent Lut Desert now a World Heritage Site

UNESCO has designated the Lut Desert in southeastern Iran to be a World Heritage site. 

The World Heritage Committee announced that eight new sites would be added to the list following the committee’s 40th session, which began on July 10. 

The desert offers stunning examples of ofaeolian yardang landforms — large ridges caused by wind erosion. The powerful winds also create impressive sand dunes. 

Lut Desert, also called the Dasht-e-Lut is a geological wonder in the making: from June to October each year, winds blow across the subtropical area across the Iranian provinces of Kerman and Sistan ad Baluchistan. As the storms continue, sediment produces ridges, dunes, and a stony desert landscape. 

Ahwar in Southern Iraq and Western Tien-Shan, one of the largest mountain ranges in the world, spanning three countries, were also added to the World Heritage list. UNESCO has designated  21 sites in Iran, including four other cultural and sites in the Kerman/Sistan and Baluchistan region, but this is the first natural site in Iran to be included on the list.

In October 2015, two assessors from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is affiliated with the UN, traveled to Iran to help determine whether Lut would be added to the heritage list. 

The World Heritage committee of the United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meets on an annual basis, and sets out the terms for allocating funds to support the upkeep and protection of World Heritage sites. It looks at conservation of the heritage sites, and, where necessary, appeals to countries to take action if sites are not being adequately maintained and protected. 

The desert has been called the hottest place on earth. Because of the severe heat and arid landscape, it is not regularly monitored to record temperatures. As part of a seven-year study, NASA measured temperatures from space. In one recording in 2005, it measured a temperature of 159.3 degrees Fahrenheit.