International Day for Biosphere Reserves
Next: November 3, 2026
Where people and nature share the map.
The story
Where it comes from
The International Day for Biosphere Reserves was proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in 2021, at the request of Spain and Uruguay, and was first held on 3 November 2022. It celebrates the sites of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme, launched in 1971 and the organisation's oldest intergovernmental science programme. A biosphere reserve is not a fenced-off wilderness. It pairs a strictly protected core with a buffer zone and an outer transition area where people live, farm and work, to show that conservation and a living can go together.
How it's celebrated
Reserves around the world hold guided walks, birdwatching, tree planting, school visits, festivals and talks, and UNESCO maps the events on its website. Recent years have brought forest bathing in the Julian Alps, reforestation days in Ecuador and a youth forum in Viet Nam's Dong Nai reserve. Anyone can mark it by visiting the nearest reserve and learning how the people there look after it.
Did you know
- UNESCO's World Network now counts 797 biosphere reserves in 145 countries.
- Sabah's Crocker Range became Malaysia's second biosphere reserve in 2014, after Tasik Chini in Pahang, and its forests feed five major river systems.
- In 2025 São Tomé and Príncipe became the first country to have its entire territory designated a biosphere reserve.
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