Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (; ) is a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

encompassing the area of

Lake Ohrid Lake Ohrid is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes, with a unique aquatic ecosystem of worldwide importance, with more th ...

and

Lake Prespa The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greec ...

, on

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. The reserve was declared in June 2014 and comprises a combination of water bodies and surrounding mountain reliefs, covering an area of .

Declaration

The Ohrid-Prespa area was declared a biosphere reserve on 11 June 2014 at the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

international commission session held in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The proposal was made by the Lake Ohrid Bilateral Secretariat, together with the UNESCO national commissions of Macedonia and Albania, as well as their respective

environment ministries Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

Ecology

The Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve includes various

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

s, ranging from the mountainous areas around the lakes, to the temperate sub-tropical forests found at lower altitudes around the water basins. The Ohrid-Prespa lake system is one of the largest in Europe of its kind. Both lakes possess exceptional value on a national and international level because of their

geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

and

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

uniqueness. Lake Ohrid is renowned for its

endemic species Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

(over 200), five of which are limited to

microecosystem Microecosystems can exist in locations which are precisely defined by critical environmental factors within small or tiny spaces. Such factors may include temperature, pH, chemical milieu, nutrient supply, presence of symbionts or solid substrat ...

s within the lake itself. Ten of the seventeen fish species are endemic, including the

Ohrid trout Ohrid trout or the Lake Ohrid brown trout (''Salmo letnica'') is an endemic species of trout in Lake Ohrid and in its tributaries and outlet, the Black Drin river, in North Macedonia and Albania. Locally, the fish is known as охридска п� ...

(''Salmo letnica''). There are also endemic and unique forest areas such as that covered by the

Macedonian pine ''Pinus peuce'' (Macedonian pine or Balkan pine) (Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian: молика, molika; Bulgarian: бяла мура, byala mura) is a species of pine native to the mountains of North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Kos ...

(''Pinus peuce'').

Mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

represent the second most important group of species in the Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve, whose protection is crucial to the reserve. They include the

Balkan mole The Balkan mole (''Talpa stankovici'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. Taxonomy It was first described in 1931 as a subspecies of '' T. romana''. It has two subspecies, ''T. s. stankovici'' (found in Macedonia and Greece) and ' ...

(''Talpa stankovici''),

Balkan lynx The Balkan lynx (''Lynx lynx balcanicus'') is a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx in the genus ''Lynx''. It is found in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and western North Macedonia, with smaller populations in Montenegro. It is considered a national symbo ...

(''Lynx lynx martinoi''),

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

(''Canis lupus''), the

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

(''Ursus arctos'') and others. The Balkan lynx is an exceptionally rare species, holding especially high symbolic value. One bird species in the area of particular note is the

Dalmatian pelican The Dalmatian pelican (''Pelecanus crispus''), also known as the curly-headed pelican, is the largest member of the pelican family and among the heaviest flying birds in the world. With a wingspan typically ranging between 2.7 and 3.2 meters (8.9� ...

(''Pelecanus crispus''). The Prespa region is the home to about 260

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

species, representing more than half the bird species in Europe. About 140 species

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

in this area.

Socioeconomic characteristics

The Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve has an estimated population of 455,000, representing an area of cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. The settlements are situated only in the transitional areas and include demographically relatively stable settlements, whereas other populated areas (especially the cities of

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

and

Struga Struga ( ; , sq-definite, Struga) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The name Struga ...

on the shore of Lake Ohrid and

Pogradec Pogradec (,) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eleventh most populous city in Albania and the capital of the eponymous municipality. It is located on a List of settlements on the Lake Ohrid coastline, narrow plain between two mountain ch ...

in Albania), receive many thousands of visitors during the tourist season. In Albania, the main economic activity of the local populations is

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, still present in the transitional area and some parts of the buffer zone. More recently, the food processing industry has seen significant development (especially in

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

), in parallel with traditional agriculture, giving rise to new settlements. The most important sector of development in the area of the reserve is the

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in d ...

. In many areas, individual

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

family farms are replaced with a more intense type of production (such as the large orchards in the area of Resen). In some mountainous parts,

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

is also a significant economic activity.

Stockbreeding Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. ...

is also important throughout the transboundary region.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

is the key area of development of the entire transboundary biosphere reserve. The city of Ohrid alone receives a large number of visitors during the high season, six times that of its native population (42,000).

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

is another key activity with ecological and economic impacts on the lakes.

Major populated places in the area

;North Macedonia * Cities:

, Resen,

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

* Municipalities: Debarca,

Vevčani Vevčani () is a village in North Macedonia. It is the only settlement and seat of Vevčani Municipality. Geography The village of Vevčani is found in the southwestern range at the foot of the Jablanica (mountain range), Jablanica mountain ...

;Albania *

Bilisht Bilisht () is a town and a former municipality in Korçë County, south-eastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Devoll, Korçë, Devoll. It was the seat of the former Devoll Dist ...

Maliq Maliq ( sq-definite, Maliqi), formerly known as Malik ( sq-definite, Maliki), is a town and a municipality in Korçë County of eastern Albania. It is the smaller of two cities in the district, the other being Korçë, southeast of Maliq. The cu ...

References

{{reflist

External links

The Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve
- UNESCO Biosphere reserves of North Macedonia Biosphere reserves of Albania Nature reserves in North Macedonia Protected areas established in 2014 Protected areas of Korçë County Albanian Ohrid Lake Coast