UNESCO has added the Lubombo Biosphere Reserve in the Kingdom of Eswatini to its network of biosphere reserves under the organisations Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme.
This is Eswatini's first entry to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Under the MAB programme, 18 new sites in 12 countries were added recently, taking the total to 701 across 124 countries.
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO director-general, said: ?There is a pressing need to take action for biodiversity, for our shared environmental heritage. After diagnosing the issue at stake, highlighted by the recent report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the vitality of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves gives us cause for hope. Each UNESCO biosphere reserve is an open sky laboratory for sustainable development, for concrete and lasting solutions, for innovation and good practices. They seal a new alliance between the world of science and youth, between humans and the environment.?
The Lubombo Biosphere Reserve lies in the Lubombo mountain range, which forms the eastern border of Eswatini with Mozambique and South Africa. It is part of the Maputoland-Phondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot and covers 294,020 hectares. Major mammal species in the reserve include Leopard, White Rhino, Tsessebe, Roan Antelope, Cape Buffalo and Suni. Numerous conservation and monitoring projects, as well as agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, tourism, commercial enterprises and forestry are already running in the reserve.
