Cold desert is India's 13th UNESCO biosphere reserve

NEW DELHI: India will have 13 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves with the UN body on Saturday designating the country’s Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve for that list. Twenty-six new sites have been added during the fifth World Congress of Biosphere Reserves (WCBR) in Hangzhou, China. This is India’s first high-altitude cold desert biosphere reserve and one of the coldest and driest ecosystems in UNESCO’s WNBR. It covers the Pin Valley National Park and its surroundings, Chandratal and Sarchu and Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary. Spanning 7,770 square km at altitudes ranging from 3,300 to 6,600 meters, the Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve encompasses windswept plateaus, glacial valleys, alpine lakes, and rugged high-altitude deserts.

Tim Curtis, director UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia said, “The Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve is a powerful example of how fragile ecosystems can be protected while supporting the communities that depend on them. This designation reflects India’s commitment to balancing conservation with sustainable development, especially in ecologically sensitive and culturally rich regions. UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves, under the Man and the Biosphere Programme, is a cornerstone of our efforts to protect biodiversity and promote sustainable development. These sites are not just protected areas, they are places where we actively learn to reconcile with nature, fostering harmony between people and planet through science, culture, and community-led stewardship.”

India’s Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve has 732 species of vascular plants, including 30 endemics and 157 near-endemics of the Indian Himalayas, as well as iconic fauna such as the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia), the Himalayan Ibex (Capra sibirica), the Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur), the Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus chanco), the Himalayan snowcock (Tetraogallus himalayensis), and the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos daphanea).

The trans-Himalayan region is also home to around 12,000 inhabitants who live in scattered villages, practicing traditional pastoralism, yak and goat herding, barley and pea farming, and Tibetan herbal medicine, knowledge sustained through Buddhist monastic traditions and community councils that regulate the use of fragile alpine resources.

“The announcement is part of UNESCO’s broader commitment to the Man and the Biosphere Programme, which celebrates its 50th anniversary and continues to evolve as a global platform for innovation, inclusion, and sustainability. UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme is an intergovernmental scientific programme that aims to establish a scientific basis for enhancing the relationship between people and their environments. It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems, thus promoting innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable,” UNESCO said in a statement.