The Lower Amudarya Biosphere Reserve, located on the territory of Karakalpakstan, formerly known as the Badai-Tugai Reserve, is included in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Tourism and Sports Aziz Abdukhakimov said on September, 16.
The decision was made during the 33rd session of the International Coordinating Council of the "Man and the Biosphere" (MAB) Program, which is being held in Abuja (Nigeria) on September, 13-17, 2021.
Now the UNESCO global network includes two protected areas from the Republic of Uzbekistan: Chatkal Biosphere Reserve (1978) and the Lower Amudarya State Biosphere Reserve (2021).
The nomination document for the inclusion of the Lower Amudarya Biosphere Reserve was prepared in coordination with the secretariat of the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO with the cooperation of specialists of The State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental Protection and with the technical support of the German Development Agency and the Michael Zukkov Foundation.
The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme is an intergovernmental scientific programme that aims to establish a scientific basis for enhancing the relationship between people and their environments. It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems, thus promoting innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.
The program studies and compares the dynamic relationships between natural ecosystems and socio-economic processes, in particular, in the context of the accelerated loss of biological and cultural diversity with unexpected consequences and threats to human life.
The Lower Amudarya State Biosphere Reserve was established in 2011 by a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan within the framework of a joint project of the Government of Karakalpakstan, the United Nations Development Program and the Global Environment Facility "Conservation of Tugai forests and strengthening of protected area systems in the Amudarya River Delta in Karakalpakstan".
The unique biosphere reserve is located in the Beruniy and Amudarya districts of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the reserve accounts for 20 percent of the tugai of Central Asia and 74 percent of all tugai of Uzbekistan.
The total area of the biosphere reserves is 68717.8 hectares. There are 2 species of 419 plant species, 1 species of 36 animal species, 12 species of 43 fish species, 23 species of 246 bird species listed in the Red Book. In addition, 1124 species of insects were found.
The following objects of cultural and historical heritage are located on the territory of the Lower Amudarya State Biosphere Reserve:
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