Mongolia adds 13th site to UNESCO biosphere reserve network

ULAN BATOR, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's Tost Toson Bumbiin Nuruu has been added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO, the country's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change said on Friday.

The designation was approved during the 38th session of the International Coordinating Council of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program, held in Hernandarias, Paraguay.

With the inclusion of Tost Toson Bumbiin Nuruu, Mongolia now boasts a total of 13 sites registered in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, according to the ministry.

Located in Gurvantes soum (an administrative subdivision) of Umnugovi province in southern Mongolia, the Tost Toson Bumbiin Nuruu Nature Reserve covers 896,540.37 hectares. The area is of exceptional importance for conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance in Mongolia's Gobi Desert ecosystem, said the ministry.

The reserve features a unique landscape of rocky mountains, dry riverbeds, oases, springs, and other natural habitats. It is recognized as a critical habitat for the endangered snow leopard.

In addition to snow leopards, the area supports several other rare and threatened species, including argali sheep, Siberian ibex, black-tailed gazelles, and Eurasian lynx. It also serves as a migratory habitat for the wild Bactrian camel and the critically endangered Gobi bear, locally known as Mazaalai.

Meanwhile, the reserve is home to a rich variety of desert vegetation, including saxaul and other native plant species, as well as numerous rare medicinal plants.

The Man and the Biosphere Program is an intergovernmental scientific program set up by UNESCO in the early 1970s with the aim of establishing a scientific basis for enhancing the relationship between people and their environments. Enditem