Italy’s extraordinary natural heritage has received two new and prestigious recognitions from UNESCO. This afternoon, the 33rd Session of the International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s ‘Man and the Biosphere’ Programme (ICC-MAB) decreed the recognition and inclusion of the ‘Monte Grappa’ site in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, bringing the number of registered Italian Biosphere Reserves to 20, as well as the extension of the ‘Appennino Tosco Emiliano’ Reserve, already a part of the Network since 2015.
The Network of Biosphere Reserves includes protected areas of great natural value, in which innovative models of sustainable development are tested, with the aim of promoting a balanced relationship between human activities and the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, and with the involvement of all the local actors, both public and private. More than 700 sites in 130 countries are currently part of the Network.
The Foreign Ministry expresses its full satisfaction with these important results, the result of decades of work that has rewarded the work of numerous national and local institutions. The recognition of the ‘Monte Grappa’ Reserve and the extension of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines Reserve also confirm the need to step up the efforts aimed at combating the effects of climate change and promote an increasingly balanced relationship between man and the environment.
