16 June 2017

Garden Route declared an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve!

South Africa's Garden Route has been declared an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve by the members of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) Council at a meeting in Paris on 14 June 2017. The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) is located within the Cape Floristic biodiversity hotspot region along the southern coast of South Africa. It has a total area of 698,363 ha (212,375 ha core, 288,032 ha buffer, 197,956 ha transition) and a population of 450,624 people. The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve includes the Tsitsikamma, Goukamma and Robberg Marine protected areas, Wilderness Lake Ramsar site, Garden Route National Park and two components of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage site: the Nelson Bay Cave and the Langkloof Valley, this latter being critically endangered.
The municipalities included in the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) are the Eden District Municipality and Sarah Baartman District Municipality as well as the local municipalities of George, Knysna, Bitou, Kouga and Koukamma.
The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) is the ninth such reserve to be declared in
South Africa.

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