Zimbabwes Zambezi Valley was among 13 new international sites named by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as areas to try alternative approaches to environmentally sensitive economic growth. UNESCO said the new designations include areas in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe for the first time and raises the number of biosphere reserves worldwide to 534 sites.
The sites are located in 109 countries and are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). WNBR serve as places to test different approaches to integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity. The Zambezi Valley contains riverine and terrestrial ecosystems unique to the subcontinent, including the Mana Pools National Park which is already a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kafa, an Ethiopian highland region, contains 50 percent of the countrys remaining Afromontane evergreen forest ecosystems and origin of the rare Coffee Arabic.
It is considered one of the worlds 34 vital yet threatened areas for biodiversity conservation and known for undisturbed natural forests
and semi-forest systems which produce coffee, spices, honey and wood, while providing important ecosystem services such as watershed production in the Nile. A dozen other sites were added in Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), Slovenia and Sweden, while five sites were extended in Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, Germany and Switzerland
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