Feasibility assessment for a World Heritage nomination of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands under the natural criteria Scoping and Feasibility Study Greifswald, 20 June 2017 Feasibility assessment for a World Heritage nomination of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands under the natural criteria Scoping and Feasibility Study: Feasibility assessment for a World Heritage nomination of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands under the natural criteria Author Tobias Garstecki Study Team Ketevan Batsatsashvili, Stephan Busse, Archil Guchmanidze, Davit Kharazishvili, Hans Dieter Knapp, Matthias Krebs, Izolda Machutadze, Zurab Manvelidze, Nino Memiadze, Levan Mumladze, Ioseb Natradze, Marianna Nitusova, Giorgi Rajebashvili, David Tarkhnishvili Supervisory Editors Uli Graebner, Nugzar Zazanashvili Michael Succow Foundation for the Protection of Nature Ellernholzstraße 1/3, 17487 Greifswald, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)3834 - 83542-10 Fax: +49 (0)3834 - 83542-22 [email protected] www.succow-stiftung.de WWF – Caucasus – regional programm office of the WWF Network 11, M. Aleksidze street; 0193 Tbilisi, Georgia Tel.: +995 32 22375 00 [email protected] http://panda.org/ Cover picture: Mtirala National Park, Georgia © Tobias Garstecki Content Executive Summary 7 1. Introduction 9 1.1 Background and rationale of the study 9 1.2 Goal, purpose and objectives 10 1.3 Overview over the wider Colchic area 12 1.4 Geographical scope of the study 13 1.5 Screening of IUCN thematic studies 13 2. Study methodoly 14 2.1 Field visit 14 2.2 National consultation and planning workshop 14 2.3 Literature review and expert interviews 15 2.4 Mapping and geographical analysis 15 3. Identification of the proposed property 16 4. Description of the proposed property and its component parts 23 4.1 General setting 23 4.1.1 Biogeographic context 23 4.1.2 Climate 25 4.1.3 Geological and ecological history 26 4.2 Landscapes and ecosystems 26 4.2.1 Classification and current distribution of forest landscapes and ecosystems 26 4.2.2 Classification and current distribution of wetland habitats and ecosystems 30 4.2.3 Landscape complexity and ecosystem diversity 44 4.3 Biodiversity 46 4.3.1 Species richness and composition of flora and fauna 46 4.3.2 Importance of the series for globally threatened species 50 4.3.3 Importance of the series for restricted range species 56 4.3.4 Importance of the series for glacial relict species and ongoing evolution 58 4.3.5 Important phenomena related to the biodiversity of the series 60 5. Potential justification for inscription 61 5.1 Identification of WH criteria 61 5.2 Potential OUV 62 5.2.1 Arguments and attributes for the use of WH criterion ix 62 5.2.2 Arguments and attributes for the use of WH criterion x 64 5.3 Global comparative analysis 66 5.3.1 Comparative analysis for WH criterion ix, Attributes 1 and 2 67 5.3.2 Comparative analysis for WH criterion ix, Attribute 3 69 5.3.3 Comparative analysis for WH criterion x, all attributes 71 Feasibility assessment for a World Heritage nomination of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands under the natural criteria 6. Integrity, state of conservation and factors affecting the proposed property 74 6.1 Integrity of the proposed property in relation to WH criterion ix 74 6.1.1 Completeness of features for World Heritage criterion ix 74 6.1.2 Adequate size for World Heritage criterion ix 76 6.2 Integrity of the proposed property in relation to WH criterion x 77 6.2.1 Completeness of features for World Heritage criterion x 77 6.2.2 Adequate size for World Heritage criterion x 78 6.3. Threats to landscapes, ecosystems and biodiversity 79 7. Management of the proposed property 88 7.1 Legal protection status 88 7.1.1 National PA categories and zones of the component parts 89 7.1.2 Compliance of national PA categories with IUCN PA definition and categories 90 7.2 Boundaries and buffer zones 90 7.2.1 Boundaries 90 7.2.2 Buffer zones 91 7.3 Protection and management system 92 7.3.1 Institutional setup 92 7.3.2 Stakeholder participation and shared understanding of the proposed property 93 7.3.3 Management plans of component parts and their implementtation 93 7.3.4 Management resources and capacity 95 7.3.5 Ongoing initiatives to develop management capacity 96 7.3.6 Monitoring of the component parts 97 7.4 Feasibility and options for co-ordinated management of the entire series 98 8. Questions to be answered during nomination process 100 8.1 Questions on values, OUV justification and comparative analysis 100 8.2 Questions on management and integrity 100 8.3 Questions on nomination practicalities 101 9. Overall conclusions and recommendations 102 9.1 Suggested choice of World Heritage criteria for potential future nomination 102 9.2 Justification of serial approach 102 9.2.1 Functional linkages and complementarity of proposed component areas 102 9.2.2 Manageability 104 9.3 Alternative options for the spatial configuration of a serial nomination 105 9.3.1 Potential integrity and management constraints of spatial configuration 105 9.3.2 Alternative options for the spatial configuration of the property 106 9.4 Likelihood and preconditions of a successful nomination 110 9.5 Future extension potential of the series 111 References 113 Appendices and electronic supplements 130 Feasibility assessment for a World Heritage nomination of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands under the natural criteria List of Figures Figure 1. Overview over the wider Colchic area. ................................................................................ 12 Figure 2. Overview map of possible component areas. ...................................................................... 17 Figure 3. Map of the proposed component areas of Machakhela West, South and North. ................... 18 Figure 4. Map of the proposed component areas of Mtirala/Kintrishi South and Kintrishi North. .......... 19 Figure 5. Map of Kobuleti/Ispani 1+2 proposed component area. ....................................................... 20 Figure 6. Map of Grigoleti, Imnati, Pitshora, Nabada, and Churia/Anaklia proposed component areas within Kolkheti National Park. ............................................................................................ 21 Figure 7. Overview map of the possible component area at Ajameti Managed Reserve with 200 m buffer zone ....................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 8. Overview map of the location of the possible compont area Banishkhevi within Borjomi- Kharagauli National Park .................................................................................................... 22 Figure 9. Global distribution of peatlands (area percentage by country). Source: Greifswald Mire Centre. ........................................................................................................................................ 24 Figure 10. Climate diagramme for Batumi, Georgia ............................................................................ 25 Figure 11. Distribution of semi-prostrate Colchic relicts in the Causasus. ............................................ 27 Figure 12. Vertical distribution of the vegetation types in Ajara, southern Colchis. .............................. 29 Figure 13. Legend for the peat profiles.............................................................................................. 32 Figure 14. Peat profile Ispani 2 with the location of core ISP . ............................................................. 33 Figure 15. Stratigraphy of the Imnati mire along two coring transects................................................. 36 Figure 16. Imnati mire. ..................................................................................................................... 37 Figure 17. Stratigraphy of Nabada mire. ............................................................................................ 42 Figure 18. Forest along the river Pitshora. ......................................................................................... 43 Figure 19. Occurrence of plant associations of high conservation value within the proposed component areas of the Colchic forests. ............................................................................................... 45 Figure 20. The peatland component areas of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands as stages in an ecological succession towards percolation bogs. ............................................................................... 103 Figure 21. Proposed Racha-Lechkhumi-Lower Svaneti Protected Areas. ............................................ 112 3 Feasibility assessment for a World Heritage nomination of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands under the natural criteria List of Tables Table 1. Possible component parts of the proposed property (MR: Managed Reserve; NP: National Park) ........................................................................................................................................ 16 Table 2. Wetland habitats of the Colchic Lowlands with short description, important plant species and site examples. ................................................................................................................... 31 Table 3. Species richness of vertebrate groups in the proposed component areas of the series ............ 49 Table 4. Threatened and near-threatened vascular plant species of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands . 53 Table 5. Globally threatened vertebrate species of the Colchic Forests and Wetlands .........................