77 Krasne Pleso str. Rakhiv, Zakarpattia region, 90600
Phone: +380 3132 22193
E-mail: cbr-rakhiv@ukr.net
Website: http://cbr.nature.org.ua
Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
The Carpathian mountain system, along with the Alps and the Balkans, is characterised by the highest biodiversity on the European continent. In the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians, intensive use of natural resources started later than in the Western Carpathians. As a result, wilderness areas, including unique virgin forests, have been preserved over large areas.
In 1968, the Government of Ukraine adopted a resolution to establish the Carpathian Reserve on an area of 12.6 thousand hectares to preserve the unique mountain landscapes. Over its thirty-year history, its territory has been expanded several times. Today, the reserve is located within Rakhiv, Tyachiv, Khust and Vynogradiv districts of Zakarpattia region. With a total area of 53630 hectares, the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve (CBR) comprises six separate massifs, as well as the Chorna Hora and Yulivska Hora botanical reserves of national importance.
The protected areas are located at altitudes ranging from 180 to 2061 m.a.s.l. in the western, central and eastern sectors of the Ukrainian Carpathians. This territorial structure of the CBR almost completely represents the landscape and biogeographical diversity of the Eastern Carpathians. It includes little disturbed and practically untouched by human activity foothill oak forests, mountain beech, mixed and spruce forests, subalpine and alpine meadows with pine and alder crooked woodland and rocky lichen landscapes. Almost 90% of the reserve's territory is covered with forests, mostly virgin forests. The reserve protects more than a thousand species of higher vascular plants, 64 species of mammals, 173 species of birds, 9 species of reptiles, 13 species of amphibians, 23 species of fish, and more than 10,000 species of invertebrates. The best-preserved Carpathian ecosystems are represented here, which serve as refuges for many rare and endangered species of plants and animals. The reserve contains 64 species of plants and 72 species of animals listed in the IUCN and Ukrainian Red Data Book, as well as the European Red List.
In recent decades, ecotourism has been actively developing and promoting around the world. Due to its natural features and functional zoning, the Carpathian Reserve offers the best conditions for the development of this type of recreation.
In this context, along with the protection and study of unique natural ecosystems, the use of the powerful recreational potential should be a promising direction for the further development of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve.
In the 1990s, the only natural history museum in Ukraine, the Museum of Mountain Ecology and the History of Nature Management in the Ukrainian Carpathians, was established on the basis of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve.
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