eSwatini gets first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve!

The Kingdom of Eswatini got its first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Lubombo Biosphere Reserve is one of the 18 new sites in 12 countries which got added to World Network of Biosphere Reserves by the UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme. The new additions were approved at the Paris meeting from 17 - 21 June 2019 of the International Co-ordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme.

The Lubombo Biosphere Reserve is located in the Lubombo Mountain Range, which forms the eastern border of Eswatini with Mozambique and South Africa. The 294,020 hectares reserve is part of the Maputoland-Phondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot. Twenty of the eighty-eight mammal species in the area, can only be found in the Lubombo region. Notable among these mammals are Leopard, White Rhino, Tsessebe, Roan Antelope, Cape Buffalo and Suni. The Lubombo Biosphere Reserve's ecosystems include forest, wetland and savannah. The reserve is home to numerous conservation and monitoring projects, as well as commercial enterprises, industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and forestry.