The Ubsunur Hollow, located on the territorial border of Mongolia and Russia, is perhaps one of the most unique and interesting locales in all of Central Asia. A unique complex of interacting and contrasting ecosystems from taiga to desert remained intact here.

Glaciers, alpine tundra and sub-alpine meadows, and a vast mountain taiga zone are, in turn, followed by forest steppes, steppes, semi-arid deserts, and even shifting sand dunes, have created an amazingly beautiful and diversified natural phenomenon.

The territory is located in the area of interaction of the Euro-Siberian and Central Asian-Mongolian flora and fauna complexes and exhibits an unusually high biodiversity for midlatitudes. This area hosts such inhabitants of mountains and tundra as the irbis or snow leopard, Siberian roe, Altai snow cock; of taiga - the maral, lynx and wolverene; of steppe - the Mongolian lark, demoiselle crane and longtailed Siberian souslik; and of desert - the bustard and midday gerbille. The area accounts for 359 bird species alone. Under the protection status of the area, many ancient relic species extinct in other regions have found refuge in the Hollow.

The relatively low population density and the absence of industrial facilities

makes it possible to use the Hollow as a natural laboratory for biospheric process studies. Traditional human activities in the Hollow (for example, nomadic pasturing) are perfectly fitted into the landscape and with certain restrictions don't affect the functioning of ecosystems. The value of the territory is not limited to its unique nature.

The Ubsunur Hollow is also important for the country's cultural heritage as it retains unstudied archaeological artifacts. No other place in Central Asia manifests such a high concentration of burial mounds (20,000 according to some estimates) and many of them are older than the Egyptian pyramids. Thousands of carved drawings and stone sculptures - remnants of Middle Age settlements and Buddhist temples - shape the inimitable appearance of the cultural landscape.

Centuries of tradition of harmony between man and nature are still preserved here in the living ancient culture of the nomads of the steppes. In particular, the Tuvinians are well known for their gift of "throat singing", an ancient tradition that survives in few areas.

At present in the conditions of traditional land use by indigenous population, no substantial threats to the natural systems of Ubsunur Hollow are envisioned. However, out of the vast area submitted to the World Heritage Center by the Russian party, only an area of the Ubsunur Nature Preserve of about 0.323 mill ha has a real conservation status.

In this regard, there are no guaranties of conservation and integrity of this natural area in the future. The latter circumstance might be an obstacle for the inclusion of "Ubsunur Hollow" onto the World Heritage List.