(Illustrative photo: baoquocte.vn)

Stretching across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia, the biosphere reserve covers 700km of the Mura, Drava and Danube Rivers and a total area of almost 1 million hectares in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’ –making it the largest riverine protected area on the continent, according to a UNESCO statement.

With its rare floodplain forests, gravel and sand banks, river islands, oxbows, and meadows the area offers a unique natural and cultural landscape. 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. It is also an important annual resting and feeding place for more than 250,000 migratory birds.

UNSECO on Wednesday recognized Nui Chua national park and Kon Ha Nung plateau of Vietnam as global biosphere reserves. Nui Chua is one of the 200 globally important ecological regions and one of the highest conservation priority areas of all major habitat types on Earth. Kon Ha Nung has a closed subtropical humid evergreen forest ecosystem which remains relatively intact. It boasts high biodiversity, typical for forest ecosystem, forest flora and fauna in the Central Highlands.