A few days ago, the Minett UNESCO Biosphere got a new neighbour. In addition to the Bliesgau Biosphere in the Saarland, the French region of Grand Est now also has a new UNESCO Biosphere. During the annual meeting of the responsible coordination council, the candidacy of the region between Château-Salins in the west and Dabo in the east was retained.
This means that there are now 16 biosphere reserves in France, which are linked together in the worldwide network of the UNESCO programme “Man and the Biosphere”.
The idea to create a biosphere reserve in the upper reaches of the Moselle was born in 2016, and after 4 years, the candidacy has been submitted at the end of 2020. The area between the valley of the Seille in the west and the foothills of the Vosges in the east, with the agricultural valley of the Saar at its centre, covers almost 1400 square kilometres. The 138 municipalities, with their approximately 76,000 inhabitants, will now be able to address sustainable tourism, environmental education and the promotion of sustainable agriculture thanks to the recognition of the status as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Source: Dossier de présentation de la Réserve de biosphère Moselle Sud
Worthy of protection in the Moselle Sud Biosphere Reserve are the lakes and pond landscapes in the heart of the area, which were created over the last centuries to drain agricultural land and are now often used for fish farming. More than 200 different species of birds and several amphibians, some of them very rare, have found a home there.
Etang du Stock; Photo: Musicaline; Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0; Source: Wikipedia
The new UNESCO biosphere also consists of 50 percent forest, which is home to no less than 14 species of bats.
Château de Lutzelbourg; Photo: pernmith; Licence: CC-BY-SA-2.0; Source: Wikipedia
With the addition of 20 new biosphere reserves, the number of UNESCO protected areas in the Man and the Biosphere network has now risen to 727 in 131 countries. New countries in the global network are Lesotho, Libya and Saudi Arabia.