The Apalachicola Biosphere Reserve was redesignated by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere International Coordinating Council last week in Paris

 The Apalachicola Biosphere Reserve was redesignated by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere International Coordinating Council last week in Paris.

The group also agreed to change the name from the Central Gulf Coast Plain Biosphere Reserve to the Apalachicola Biosphere Reserve.

The Apalachicola Biosphere Reserve was originally designated in 1983.

It is part of an extensive global network of extraordinary places that work to protect examples of the world’s major ecosystems.

Biosphere reserves are globally-recognized areas where management seeks to achieve sustainable economic use of natural resources while ensuring conservation of the biological diversity.

There are 701 biosphere sites throughout the world in 124 countries.

The designation brings international recognition to the Apalachicola Bay, River and floodplain which encompass one of the least polluted, most undeveloped, resource-rich systems left in the United States.

The Biosphere is managed by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve and encompasses over 1.6 million acres of land and over 432thousand acres of water across Calhoun, Gulf, Franklin and Liberty counties.

At the core of the Biosphere is where the greatest protection occurs for nearly 235 thousand acres in the Apalachicola River, bay and floodplain.

http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?code=USA+37&mode=all

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