Immerse yourself in the beauty of the Hyrcanian Forests World Heritage Site with one click

The online photo exhibition was implemented within the framework of the project "Supporting Azerbaijan and Iran in the transnational expansion of the Hyrcanian Forests World Heritage Site" and organised by the Michael Succow Foundation. The virtual tour can be found on the website of the international nature conservation foundation, which supports the establishment of protected areas and biosphere reserves worldwide.

• Our World Heritage, THE HYRCANIAN FORESTS (succow-stiftung.de)

40 impressive photographs show the beauty and diversity of these forests, both in natural and cultural terms, for a whole year. The digitalization of the photo exhibition also makes it possible to reach many more people and thus a larger audience at home and abroad and to inspire them for the forests.

Morvarid Kamali is project coordinator at the Succow Foundation and initiated the photo platform: "We feel committed to these precious forests and would like to continue raising awareness for the Hyrcanian Forests after their successful inscription as a World Heritage Site. Their resources must be preserved and at the same time allow for soft tourism, which helps the local actors on the ground. Many people know Iran mainly for its deserts. But it surprises many that there are also very old, deep and dense forests here that harbour a great diversity of species. Selecting the images was not easy, as we received many breathtaking photos," says Kamali.

The Succow Foundation published a call for entries for the digital photo exhibition in advance and invited photographers to send in their artwork. All the photographers are local people living in the region. Most of them are not professional photographers, but people with a passion for nature and photography who feel they belong to these forests, associate their cultural identity with them and are proud to show others this beauty with their photos.

Partners of the photo exhibition are the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran (MCHTHO), the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUV), the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the German Environment Agency (UBA).