UNESCO has approved the declaration of the Ponga Biosphere Reserve, in Asturias, the 49th in Spain.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has approved the declaration of Ponga (Asturias) as a Biosphere Reserve. With this decision, Spain is the first country in the world in number of these declared spaces, with a total of 49 Biosphere Reserves.

UNESCO has approved this proposal during the 30th session of the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of the Man and the Biosphere (MaB) Programme, which is being held in Palembang (Indonesia) from 23 to 28 July. The Spanish delegation thanked the CIC for this new recognition.

The 49 Spanish sites that hold this UNESCO award occupy an area close to 11% of the total area of Spain, with more than 5.5 million hectares and a population of almost 2 million inhabitants (4.12%).

The Ponga reserve, with 20,506 hectares, is located in the southern sector of the Principality of Asturias, in the eastern part of the Cantabrian mountain range. Its declaration will contribute to the sustainable development of the territory that makes it up, the preservation of its natural and cultural values and the promotion of territorial cohesion. It corresponds territorially to the municipality of Ponga, which has a total population of 655 inhabitants.

The Spanish Network of Biosphere Reserves began in 1976 with the declaration of the Grazalema and Ordesa Viñamala biosphere reserves. With the designation of the new Ponga reserve, the Network reaches the figure of 49 declared sites, which cover various ecosystems and landscapes characteristic of Spain.

Currently, there are eight island Biosphere Reserves in Spain (seven in the Canary Islands and Menorca in the Mediterranean). In addition, Spain has eight Reserves that contain wet, river or coastal areas and two that are home to arid landscapes. In mountain areas, three are located in the high mountains, thirteen in the Cantabrian mountains and another eleven in the Mediterranean mid-mountains. The Network is completed with the four transboundary Biosphere Reserves declared in Spain. Three with Portugal: “Gerés-Xurés”, “Meseta Ibérica” and “Tajo-Tejo”, and the fourth with Morocco: “Intercontinental del Mediterráneo”.

Worldwide, during this meeting in Palembang, 24 new Reserves have been declared and 7 have been withdrawn (5 from Australia, 1 from the United States and 1 from Australia), so that the official figures for the end of 2018 show a World Network of Biosphere Reserves composed of 686 Reserves distributed in 122 countries.

Do you want to know what projects supported by the Foundation are being developed in some of the Spanish Biosphere Reserves?

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