Kenozersky National Park in the Arkhangelsk Region has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On July 27, at the 46th session of the UNESCO Committee in New Delhi, the "Treasured Kenozero" site was inscribed on the World Heritage List. This was reported to NeMoskva by the staff of the "Earth Touches Everyone" project.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site "Kenozero Cultural Landscape" encompasses the entire central part of the national park: the waters of Lakes Kenozero, Lekshmozero, and Porzhenskie Lakes, and their adjacent shores. Chapels with wooden "heavens," wooden and stone churches, watermills, and other cultural and ethnographic treasures are located here.
— World Heritage status is undoubtedly additional protection, additional opportunities and additional responsibility, — The media coordinator of the "Earth Touches Everyone" project told NeMoskva Yulia Davydova.
According to Yulia, in Russia, this status currently works rather one-sidedly: it helps prevent resort construction, forest clearing, and road construction in the most valuable biodiversity areas. It also facilitates sustainable development of the area, attracting international funding for its conservation, and promoting ecotourism.
If a site is damaged by natural disasters or human activity, UNESCO may add the site to the List of Heritage in Danger—this is not a punitive measure, but an opportunity to receive advisory support from international experts for the restoration of the site.
— Of course, the World Heritage status is prestigious, it attracts both Russian and foreigninternational tourists. If properly organized, this could be a significant stimulus for the region's economic development. However, a fine line must be struck between short-term economic gains and the preservation of unique sites. What's happening now and on Baikal, and in the Caucasus, and in Kamchatka — an example of how this balance is being disrupted. Tourists are being lured by elite ski resorts and five-star hotels, which are being built on World Heritage sites without regard for how such construction will impact the conservation value of these sites. Davydova emphasized.
Photo by Konstantin Kokoshkin from the national park archives