A UNESCO has designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’.
Q What are some key details about Mura-Drava-Danube Biosphere Reserve ?
A
The biosphere reserve covers 700 kilometres of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia.
The total area of the reserve a million hectares in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’, makes it the largest riverine protected area on the continent.
The reserve is home to floodplain forests, gravel and sand banks, river islands, oxbows and meadows.
It is home to continental Europe’s highest density of breeding white-tailed eagle (more than 150 pairs), as well as endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters, beavers and sturgeons.
It is also an important annual resting and feeding place for more than 250,000 migratory birds, according to WWF.
Almost 900,000 people live in the biosphere reserve. (UPSC may ask if it is uninhabited.)
Q What is Significance of this Biosphere Reserve ?
A
The new reserve represented an important contribution to the European Green Deal and contributes to the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy in the Mura-Drava-Danube region.
The strategy’s aim is to revitalize 25,000 km of rivers and protect 30 per cent of the European Union’s land area by 2030.
The declaration as BR puts river revitalization, sustainable business practices enhancing cross-border cooperation into focus.
Q What is a Biosphere Reserve ?
A
Biosphere reserves are ‘learning places for sustainable development’.
They are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located.
They are designated under the intergovernmental MAB Programme by the Director-General of UNESCO following the decisions of the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB ICC).
Their status is internationally recognized. Member States can submit sites through the designation process.
Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems.
They integrate three main “functions”:
Conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity
Economic development that is socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable
Logistic support, underpinning development through research, monitoring, education and training
(a) Core Areas
It comprises a strictly protected zone that contributes to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation
(b) Buffer Zones
It surrounds or adjoins the core area(s), and is used for activities compatible with sound ecological practices that can reinforce scientific research, monitoring, training and education.
(c) Transition Area
The transition area is where communities foster socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable economic and human activities.