Unesco members voted in favour of the inclusion of the Garden Route as a biosphere reserve at a meeting in Paris on June 14.
Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, welcomed the news. “The positive response to the application…is most encouraging, not just for us as a country but also for the people of the region.”
The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve is the ninth such reserve to be declared in South Africa.
According to the department, the area includes the Tsitsikamma, Goukamma and Robberg Marine protected areas, Wilderness Lake Ramsar site, Garden Route National Park and two components of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site: the Nelson Bay Cave and the Langkloof Valley, the latter being critically endangered.
