The Central Balkan National Park received UNESCO's World Heritage Site designation on March 27. This way the beech forests in the park have become part of the European heritage site "Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe". Bulgaria participates with its most representative beech forests (nearly 11,000 hectares) in the nine reserves on the territory of Central Balkan Park –“Boatin”, “Tsarichina”, “Kozya Stena”, “Steneto”, “Sokolna”, "Singing Rocks", "Stara Reka", "Djendema" and "North Djendem". The award has been presented at an official ceremony at the Ministry of Environment and Waters by Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Krassimir Zhivkov to Director of Central Balkan National Park Director Gencho Iliev. He said that the beech forests in the national park are 30,000 hectares and they have been preserved since its establishment in 1991. Efforts currently focus on popularizing Bulgarian beech forests by attracting more tourists. "Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe" includes 78 sites located in the territory of 12 European countries – Austria, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia. With the inclusion of beech forests in Central Balkan, the Bulgarian natural sites in the World Heritage List of UNESCO are now three. Since 1983, two of Bulgaria’s most emblematic natural territories – Pirin National Park and Srebarna Nature Reserve have been part of this list.