A trio of protected areas in Slovakia meets the set criteria for being included in the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve Network, said the Slovak chair of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (ICC MAB) Vladímira Fabriciusová on Sunday. These areas include namely the Slovenský Kras and the Eastern Carpathians, both in eastern Slovakia and the Tatra Mountains, which are spread over northern Slovakia, both in the centre and the east.
Fabriciusová recently attended the 30th session of ICC MAB in the Indonesian city of Palembang at which the members, among other things, focused on evaluating the selected biosphere reserves, including the three aforementioned Slovak areas. As the TASR press agency wrote, one of the points of the discussion was the implementation of an excellency process and improving the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
"Biospheric reserves, like world heritage sites, are areas of international importance selected by UNESCO. These three [Slovak] areas have undergone an evaluation process for several years and have been confronted with a number of critical reservations from ICC MAB. We've been working hard to eliminate the key issues. Eventually, our long-term efforts weren't in vain, as the evaluation was positive, stating that these areas currently meet the set criteria for biosphere reserves," said Fabriciusová.
Slovakia has been a member of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme for three years. The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves covers internationally designated protected areas, each known as biosphere reserves that are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature. The network currently includes 686 biosphere reserves in 122 countries, including 20 transboundary sites. Slovakia has four biosphere reserves: Slovensky Kras (Slovak Karst), Polana, the Tatra Mountains (cross-border with Poland) and the Eastern Carpathians (cross-border with Ukraine).
In 2018, Slovakia ranked in 28st place among world countries in the Environmental Performance Index, scoring over 70 points out of 100, which represents a drop by seven places compared to 2014. Switzerland in first place scored over 87 points. The Environmental Performance Index is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state's policies.
