The Tribugá-Cupica-Baudó Biosphere Reserve in Colombia and the Bicentenario-Ayacucho Biosphere Reserve in Peru are part of the
Program on Man and the Biosphere of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO).
The Program designated a total of ten new biosphere reserves in nine countries and one new transboundary reserve. With these new names, the World Network currently has 748 reserves in 134 countries, including 23 cross-border reserves.
The International Coordinating Council of Program on Man and the Biosphere of the Unesco selected these new additions during a meeting held from June 12 to 15 at its headquarters in Paris.
Colombia: Tribugá-Cupica-Baudó Reserve
Located in the Chocó biogeographic region, Tribugá-Cupica-Baudó is the first biosphere reserve located on the Colombian Pacific coast, one of the two great biomes, large ecological communities with characteristic vegetation and fauna, which influence this zone.
The other is the tropical humid forest of the Serranía del Baudó. The biosphere reserve contains a wide variety of landscapes (cliffs, estuaries, coasts, gulfs, inlets, bays, and marine areas) and ecosystems (reefs, mangroves, tropical forests) rich in biodiversity.
It has a population of more than 18,000 inhabitants, mostly Emberá indigenous and Afro-Colombians. Its main economic activities are subsistence agriculture, artisanal fishing, traditional fishing and the use of resources, commerce, nature tourism and crafts, such as ceramics.
Peru: Bicentennial Reserve–Ayacucho
Located in central-southern Peru, in the central Andes it encompasses various mountain ecosystems that rise between 1,850 m and 4,450 meters above sea level. These ecosystems include seasonally dry forests, high Andean wetlands, relict forests, and Andean scrub.
The reserve encompasses the protected natural areas of the Pampa de Ayacucho Historic Sanctuary and the Regional Conservation Area of the world’s largest population of “titankas” forest (Puya raimondii). This elongated, giraffe-like flower, sometimes called the Queen of the Andes, can reach 15 meters in height.
The area is also notable for its significant cultural diversity in terms of historical, religious and social values, including local and indigenous knowledge related to natural resource management.
It has a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants, most of whom live in urban areas, including the city of Ayacucho. The mother tongue of more than half of the population is Quechua and its economic activity includes agriculture, livestock, fish farming, tourism and Andean subsistence herding, as well as other service activities.
The rest of the awarded biospheres were those of:
Drömling, in Germany
Korup Rainforest, Cameroon
Bantimurung Bulusaraung – Ma’Rupanne, in Indonesia
Mount Elgon Transboundary, between Kenya and Uganda
Onon-Balkh, in Mongolia
Chitral Bashkar Garmchashma and Gallies, both in Pakistan
Complex of Protected Areas of the Northeast of the Central African Republic
Rufiji-Mafia-Kibiti-Kilwa, in Tanzania
Main objective: preserve ecosystems
Biosphere reserves are one of the pillars of UNESCO’s mandate as a United Nations agency for science. Each of them promotes innovative local solutions, in order to conserve biodiversity, preserve ecosystems and address climate change, while improving people’s livelihoods, for example through the development of agroecology, renewable energy sources and green industries.
They also contribute to achieving the objectives set last December in the framework of the Convention on the Kunming-Montreal World Framework of Biological Diversity.
These objectives contemplate the designation of 30% of the earth’s surface as protected areas and the restoration of 30% of the most degraded ecosystems on the planet by 2030.
