UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as of 2009. Transboundary parks add to the number of all countries they're located in

As of 2023 the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves is made up of 738 reserves in 134 countries of which 22 are transboundary. Biosphere reserves are large landscapes with significant biodiversity and important ecological systems. Together, the reserves are representative of the world's major ecoystems. Each reserve is a focus for environmental collaboration and sustainable development, and offer travellers an opportunity to appreciate and understand unique parts of the natural environment.

Understand

UNESCO describes the reserves as follows:

Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Biosphere reserves are ‘Science for Sustainability support sites’ – special places for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity.

See UNESCO World Heritage List for related lists.

<br clear="right" /> ## [Africa](Africa) ### [Algeria](Algeria) ![Djurdjura in spring](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Merveilleux_printemps_(Djurdjura_National_Park).jpg/440px-Merveilleux_printemps_(Djurdjura_National_Park).jpg)

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Tassili N’Ajjer	Saharan Algeria	1986	2014
El Kala	Northeast Algeria	1990	2002, 2016
Djurdjura	Central Algeria	1997	2011
Chréa	Blida, Central Algeria	2002	2014
Taza	Northeast Algeria	2004	2016
Gouraya	Central Algeria	2004	2016
Belezma	Batna, Northeast Algeria	2015
Tlemcen Mountains	Tlemcen, Northwest Algeria	2016

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Complex W-Arly-Penjari	Southwestern Niger	2002, 2020	2014, 2017	Shared with Burkina Faso and Niger
Mono	Southern Benin	2017		Shared with Togo
Oueme Lower Valley	Southern Benin	2017

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Mare aux hippopotames	Black Volta Region	1986	1998, 2016
Complex W-Arly-Penjari	East Burkina Faso (see W National Park)	2002	2014,2016	Shared with Benin and Niger

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Waza	Northern Cameroon	1979	2006, 2016
Benoué	Northern Cameroon	1981	2006, 2016
Dja	South Cameroon Plateau	1981	2006,2017
Doumba-Rey	Adamaoua	2021

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Odzala	Cuvette and Sangha and Likouala	1977	2017
Dimonika	Coast and Mayombe	1988	2017

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Yangambi	Congo Basin	1976	1998, 2016
Luki	Western DRC	1976	1998, 2005

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Taï	Southwestern Forests	1977	1999
Comoé	Northern Savanna	1983	1999, 2010

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Omayed	Lower Egypt	1981	2001, 2011	Extended in 1998
Wadi Allaqi	Lake Nasser, Upper Egypt	1993	2004, 2012

Official name	Location	Year of designation
Kafa	Southern Ethiopia	2010
Yayu		2010
Sheka	Western Ethiopia	2012
Lake Tana	Northern Ethiopia	2015
Majang Forest	Western Ethiopia	2017

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Bia	Ashanti-Kwahu	1983	1998, 2017
Songor	Ghanaian Coastal Plain	2011
Lake Bosomtwe	Ashanti-Kwahu	2016

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Mont Nimba	Guinee Forestiere	1980	2004
Massif du Ziama	Guinee Forestiere	1980	2004
Badiar	Moyenne Guinee	2002
Haut Niger	Haute Guinee	2002

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Mount Kenya	Southern Rift Valley	1978	2016
Mount Kulai	Northern Rift Valley	1978	2011
Malindi-Watamu	Malindi, Coastal Kenya	1979	2016
Kiunga	Lamu, Coastal Kenya	1980	2016
Amboseli	Coastal Kenya	1991	2003, 2017
Mount Elgon	Western Kenya	2003	2017

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Mananara Nord	Toamasina Province	1990	2012
Sahamalaza-Iles Radma	Antsiranana Province	2001	2012
Littoral de Toliara	Toliara Province	2003
Belo-sur-Mer—Kirindy-Mite	Morondava, Toliara Province	2016
Tsimanampesotse - Nosy Ve Androka	Toliara Province	2018

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Arganeraie	Agadir, South Atlantic Coast	1998	2010
Oasis du sud marocain	Saharan Morocco	2000	2017
Intercontinental Biosphere Reserve of the Mediterranean	Mediterranean Morocco	2006		Shared with Spain
Atlas Cedar	Middle Atlas	2016

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Mount Mulanje	Southern Malawi	2000	2014
Lake Chilwa Wetland	Southern Malawi	2006

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Aïr et Ténéré	Northern Niger	1997	2009
Complex W-Arly-Penjari	Southwestern Niger	2002	2013	Shared with Benin and Burkina Faso
Gadabedji	Northern Niger	2020

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Omo	Lagos State, South West Nigeria	1977	1998, 2012
Hadejia Nguru Bade	North West Nigeria	2020
Oban	Cross River State, South South Nigeria	2020	1998
Okwangwo	Cross River State, South South Nigeria	2020	1998

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Samba Dia	Central Senegal	1979	1999, 2015
Delta du Saloum	Palmarin, Central Senegal	1980	1999, 2015
Niokolo-Koba	Tambacounda Region	1981	1999
Delta du Fleuve Sénégal	Northern Senegal	2005		Shared with Mauritania
Ferlo	Northern Senegal	2012

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Kogelberg	near Kleinmond, Overberg	1998	2010
Cape West Coast	near Langebaan, West Coast	2000		Extended in 2003, Reviewed 2016
Waterberg	Waterberg, Limpopo	2001	2013
Kruger to Canyons	Kruger National Park and Blyde River Canyon	2001	2013
Cape Winelands	Western Cape	2007
Vhembe		2009
Gouritz Cluster	Little Karoo, Western Cape	2015	2013
Magaliesberg	West Rand, Gauteng	2015
Garden Route	Eastern Cape	2017
Marico	North West Province	2018

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Dinder	Eastern Sudan	1979	2001, 2016
Radom	Darfur	1979	2001
Jebel Al Dair	Central Sudan	2017

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Lake Manyara	Arusha, Northeast Tanzania	1981	2017	Extended 2017
Serengeti - Ngorongoro	Northeast Tanzania	1981	2017	Extended 2017
East Usambara	Northeast Tanzania	2000	2017	Extended 2017
Jozani-Chwaka Bay	Zanzibar	2016
Gombe Masito Ugalla	Northwest Tanzania	2018

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Oti-Kéran/Oti-Mandouri	Northern Togo	2011
Mono Transboundary Biosphere Reserve	Maritime Togo	2017		Shared with Benin

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Djebel Bou-Hedma	Saharan Tunisia	1977	1999
Djebel Chambi	Saharan Tunisia	1977	1999
Ichkeul	Northern Tunisia	1977	1999
Iles Zembra et Zembretta	Northern Tunisia	1977	1999

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Queen Elizabeth	Western Uganda	1979	1998
Mount Egon	Eastern Uganda	2005

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Middle Zambezi	Lake Kariba-Lower Zambezi	2010
Chimanimani	Eastern Highlands	2022

Official name	Year of designation	Periodic review
Changbaishan	1979	1998
Dingushan	1979	1998
Wolong	1979	1998
Fanjingshan	1986	1999
Xilin Gol	1987	1999
Wuyishan	1987	1999
Bodega	1990	2001
Shennongjia	1990	2011
Yancheng	1992	2003
Xishuangbanna	1993	2004
Maolan	1996	2007
Tianmushan	1996	2007
Fenglin	1997	2009
Jiuzhaigou Valley	1997	2011
Nanji Islands	1998	2011
Shankou Mangrove	2000	2011
Baishujiang	2000	2011
Gaoligong Mountain	2000	2011
Huanglong	2000	2011
Baotianman	2001	2012
Saihan Wula	2001	2012
Dalai Lake	2002
Wudalianchi	2003
Yading	2003
Foping	2004
Qomolangma	2004
Chabaling	2007
Xingkai Lake	2007
Mao’er Mountain	2011
Jinggangshan	2012
Niubeiliang	2012
Snake Island, Laotie Mountain	2013

Official name	Year of designation	Periodic review
Nilgiri	2000	2012
Gulf of Mannar	2001	2013
Sunderban	2001	2013
Nanda Devi	2004
Nokrek	2009
Pachmarhi	2009
Similpal	2009
Achanmar-Amarkantak	2012
Great Nicobar	2013

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Cibodas, including Mount Gede Pangrango National Park	Bogor Raya	1977	2011
Komodo National Park	Flores	1977	1999,2013
Lore Lindu National Park	Central Sulawesi	1977	1999,2013
Tanjung Puting National Park	Central Kalimantan	1977	1998, 2013
Gunung Leuser National Park	Aceh and North Sumatra	1981	1999, 2013
Siberut	Mentawai Islands	1981	1999, 2013
Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu Bioreserve	Riau	2009
Wakatobi	Southeast Sulawesi	2012

Official name	Year of designation	Periodic review
Arasbaran	1976	2002, 2013
Arjan	1976	2002, 2013
Geno	1976	2002, 2013
Golestan	1976	2002, 2013
Hara	1976	2002, 2013
Kavir	1976	2002, 2013
Lake Oromeeh	1976	2002, 2013
Miankaleh	1976	2002, 2013
Touran	1976	2002, 2013
Dena	2010

Official name	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Mount Hakusan	1980	1999
Mount Odaigahara & Mount Omine	1980	1999
Shiga Highland	1980	1999	Extended in 2014
Yakushima Island	1980	1999
Aya	2012
Minami-Alps	2014
Tadami	2014

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Sary-Chelek	Ferghana Valley	1978	2013
Issyk Kul	Issyk Kul and the Tian Shan	2001	2013

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Great Gobi		1990
Bogd Khan Uul		1996
Uvs Nuur Basin		1997
Hustai Nuruu		2002
Dornod Mongol		2005
Mongol Daguur		2007

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review
Mount Paekdu	Baekdu Mountains	1989	2002
Mount Kuwol		2004
Mount Myohyang		2009
Mount Chilbo		2014

Official name	Location	Year of designation	Periodic review	Notes
Lal Suhanra	Southern Punjab	1977	1998
Ziarat Juniper Forest	Balochistan	2013