ULAN BATOR, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's Khar-Us Lake National Park has been added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO, local media reported Wednesday, citing the UNESCO.
The decision was made during the 36th session of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Program held in Agadir, Morocco, from July 2 to July 5.
Khar-Us Lake, located in the western Mongolian province of Khovd, occupies a vast depression within the Great Lake Basin, spanning 14,153 square kilometers. The biosphere reserve comprises a core area of 703 square kilometers, a buffer zone spanning 7,800 square kilometers, and a transition area covering 5,650 square kilometers.
Its diverse ecosystems encompass aquatic realms, deserts, high mountain terrain, and steppe landscapes, each contributing to the region's ecological richness.
With the addition of Khar-Us Lake, Mongolia now boasts a total of 10 sites registered in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
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. ■
