The Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in Georgia, which comprises parts of the Colchis Lowland along some 80 km of western Georgia's

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coastline. It was

inscribed {{unreferenced, date=August 2012 An inscribed triangle of a circle In geometry, an inscribed planar shape or solid is one that is enclosed by and "fits snugly" inside another geometric shape or solid. To say that "figure F is inscribed in figur ...

by UNESCO on 26 July 2021, becoming the first site in Georgia to be added to the list for its natural attributes. The site contains a wide array of ancient rainforest and wetland ecosystems, harboring many threatened and endangered species.

Description

The World Heritage site includes a series of

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s such as

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

rainforests Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

and

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

, percolation bogs and other mire types, located at a range of altitudes from the

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

to more than 2,500 metres above it. In total, the site consists of seven component parts — Kintrishi-Mtirala and Ispani in

Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a'' ...

, Grigoleti and Imnati in

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000 (2016), with Ozurgeti as the regional capital. Geography ...

, and Pitshora, Nabada, and Churia in

Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti (Georgian: სამეგრელო-ზემო სვანეთი) is a region (Mkhare) in western Georgia with a population of 308,358 (2021) and a surface of . The region has Zugdidi as its administrative center, w ...

. They are administered in Georgia as parts of the

Kolkheti National Park Kolkheti National Park ( ka, კოლხეთის ეროვნული პარკი), is a national park located in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Guria in the historical region of Colchis in western Georgia.Kintrishi Strict Nature Reserve Kintrishi Strict Nature Reserve ( ka, კინტრიში) is a protected area in Kobuleti Municipality, Adjara region of Georgia in the upper part of the Kintrishi River at an altitude of 300–2,500 meters above sea level between the vi ...

, Kobuleti Protected Areas, and Mtirala National Park. The total area of the site is 31,253 ha, with the buffer zone of 26,850 ha.

Geography and Climate

The Colchis Lowland is extremely humid, with precipitation in some areas exceeding 4 meters per year. This is a result of the funnel created between the Greater Caucasus, Lesser Caucasus, and Likhi Range, which traps the moisture along the Black Sea. The lowland is a subsiding basin that may have originated during the Late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

or the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

Boundary. It is fed by many rivers, the largest of which is the

Rioni The Rioni ( ka, რიონი, ; , ) is the main river of western Georgia (country), Georgia. It originates in the Caucasus Mountains, in the region of Racha and flows west to the Black Sea, entering it north of the city of Poti (near ancient P ...

Ecology

Located in the

Euxine–Colchic deciduous forests The Euxine–Colchic deciduous forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion located along the southern shore of the Black Sea. The ecoregion extends along the thin coastal strip from the southeastern corner of Bulgaria in the west ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

, the site contains relict forests which survived the glacial cycles during the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

ice ages. The Colchic rainforests are some of the oldest broad-leafed forests in western Eurasia. As a refugium during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

continued relatively uninterrupted. As a result, the region comprises a highly diverse flora and fauna, with high numbers of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

and relict species. The site is home to nearly 1,100 species of

vascular The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away f ...

and

non-vascular plants Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water. Non-vascular plants include two distantly rel ...

, including 44

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

. Among these plant species include the

Caucasian walnut ''Pterocarya fraxinifolia'' is a species of tree in the Juglandaceae family. It is commonly known as the Caucasian wingnut or Caucasian walnut. It is native to the Caucasian region Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and Turk ...

, the endemic Colchis ivy and the endangered Pontine oak. Near 500 species of

vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

have also been observed in the site, with over 300 species of birds, 67 mammal species, 55 fish species, 15 reptiles, and 10 amphibians. The region is a key stopover for many globally threatened raptors such as the

booted eagle The booted eagle (''Hieraaetus pennatus'', also classified as ''Aquila pennata'') is a medium-sized mostly migratory bird of prey with a wide distribution in the Palearctic and southern Asia, wintering in the tropics of Africa and Asia, with a ...

that migrate through the

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

bottleneck. In addition, it provides habitat for many wetland bird species, including the Great crested grebe. Amphibian species observed at the site include the vulnerable Caucasian salamander and the

Caucasian parsley frog The Caucasian parsley frog (''Pelodytes caucasicus'') is a species of frog in the family Pelodytidae. It is found in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and possibly Armenia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, rive ...

, and 4 species of the lizard genus ''

Darevskia ''Darevskia'' is a genus of wall lizards of the family Lacertidae living in the Caucasus, Iran and Turkey in forest and grassy habitats with numerous rock outcrops. Among rock lizards, 7 parthenogenetic species are known. Description These are ...

'' have been found within the constituent protected areas. The protected areas making up the World Heritage site also provide some of the last remaining habitat for critically endangered species, including the

beluga sturgeon The beluga (), also known as the beluga sturgeon or great sturgeon (''Huso huso''), is a species of anadromous fish in the sturgeon family (Acipenseridae) of order Acipenseriformes. It is found primarily in the Caspian and Black Sea basins, a ...

and the Colchic sturgeon (''Acipenser colchicus'').

References

{{World Heritage Sites in Georgia World Heritage Sites in Georgia (country)

External links

Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands
UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture