Bike riding around Desnianskyi Biosphere Reserve promote the importance of the concept of the biosphere reserves

May 2009 was unusual for the northern part of Ukraine. Desnianskyi Biosphere Reserve (hereinafter – Desnianskyi BR) was created at the 21st session of the International Coordinating Council for the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program (MAB). The core area of the Desnianskyi BR was Desnyansko-Starogutsky National Park. It replenished a list of more than 450 biosphere reserves in almost 100 countries of the world.

Biosphere reserves are territories that are part of the global network within the UNESCO MAB Program. The biosphere reserve has the following functions: conservation (conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation); development (promotion of sustainable development of society which is socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable); Logistic (support for research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to local, national and global issues of conservation and development). The territory of the Desnianskyi BR covers the northern part of the Sredne-Budsky district of the Sumy region and the north-eastern part of Novgorod-Siverskyi district, Chernihiv region. The total area is more than 70 thousand hectares.

On September 21-24, in order to popularize the concept of biosphere reserves together with scientists from the Desnyansko-Starogutsky National Park and the National Antarctic Scientific Centre of Ukraine (NASC), we organize a bicycle ride in the territory of the Desnianskyi BR. It became the first event where I participated as an Ambassador.

All of us were united purpose of acting for the benefit of developing the Desniansky BR.

The start of the bike ride was from Novgorod-Siversky old historical city of Chernihiv region. The first point of travel was the village of Hremiach. We had a meeting with the pupils of the local school. The meeting was held in the form of a game, so everybody had fun. Then the participants of the bike race headed to the village of Smyach to have a chance to relax and admire the scenery of the picturesque region.

After that, we returned to Novgorod-Siverskyi where we had an enlighted meeting with the youths. Also, we presented a new information stand dedicated to general information about the Desnianskyi BR and the rare plants and habitats, valuable areas in its territory in the State historical-cultural reserve-museum, thereby emphasizing the close ties of culture and nature conservation and their combination for the sake of the development of the Desnianskyi BR.