Iran’s Tabas Geopark Secures Top Honors at International Competition

Iran’s Tabas UNESCO Global Geopark has secured first and second places in two categories of the international “Geoparks and You” competition, highlighting the region’s geological heritage, natural landscapes and the contribution of local communities to promoting the area globally.

Adela Sadat Sajjadi-Pour, a sixth-grade student, won first place in the “Geopark Five Senses” category for her work, “Experience Morteza Ali Spring with Me,” which portrays one of Tabas Geopark’s natural attractions from a student’s perspective. Seyed Hamid Haghighi won second place in the “Visual Odyssey of the Earth” category with a photograph showing a camel caravan crossing the Halvan Desert, set against the Kalmand mountain ranges.

The National Commission for UNESCO in Iran congratulated the winners and the Tabas Geopark community, while Geopark Director Vesal Yahya Sheibani said the achievement offered an important opportunity to showcase Iran’s geological and tourism potential within the Global Geoparks Network. The competition was held during the ninth Asia-Pacific Geoparks Network Symposium in September 2026 in Malaysia’s Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark, with entries submitted by residents of UNESCO Global Geoparks worldwide.