Why in the news?
- The UNESCO on September 15, 2021, designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’.
Which are the five countries?
- The Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) biosphere reserve covers 700 kilometres of the Mura, Drava (Zagreb) and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia.
- The total area of the reserve — a million hectares — in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’, makes it the largest riverine protected area on the continent.
What are objectives behind this move?
- The new reserve “represented an important contribution to the European Green Deal and contributes to the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy in the Mura-Drava-Danube region.”
- The strategy’s aim is to revitalise 25,000 km of rivers and protect 30 per cent of the European Union’s land area by 2030.
What are the features of Mura-Drava- Danube (MDD) ?
- The reserve is home to floodplain forests, gravel and sand banks, river islands, oxbows and meadows.
- It is home to continental Europe’s highest density of breeding white-tailed eagle (more than 150 pairs), as well as endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters, beavers and sturgeons.
About Drava river
- The Drava is part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network of specially protected sites.
- From its source in Italy, the Drava is already under pressure of 22 hydropower plants, three of which are in the upper flow in Croatia.
(Source: DE)
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