UNESCO has designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’.

About Mura-Drava-Danube BR

• 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.)

Significance of this BR

• 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.

Ignore at your own risk! Its better to correct it here itself.

Such PYQs are ought to repeat any number of times in UPSC CSE.

Q. Consider the following statements:

1. The boundaries of a National Park are defined by legislation.
2. A Biosphere Reserve is declared to conserve a few specific species of flora and fauna.
3. In a Wildlife Sanctuary, limited biotic interference is permitted.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

Post your answers here.

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Back2Basics: UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

• 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”:

1. Conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity
2. Economic development that is socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable
3. 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.

UNESCO recognized BRs in India

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