Welcome to a very special place

Biosphere Reserves

are places with world-class environments that are designated by the United Nations to promote and demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature. They are places where conservation and sustainable development go hand in hand.

North Devon is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

because of its blend of special landscapes and wildlife areas, rich cultural heritage and communities that care about it and want to sustain it into the future.

The Biosphere Reserve's area is based on the catchments of the Rivers Taw and Torridge in north Devon. The core area of Braunton Burrows is one of the UK's most spectacular dune systems whilst other Biosphere habitats include a rocky foreshore, mud and sand flats, saltmarshes of various types, lowland farmland, ancient and semi natural woodland, grazing marsh and coastal heath.

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The area of North Devon's Biosphere Reserve is some 3300 square kilometres and it includes about 150,000 people.

The Reserve includes:
The North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
63 Sites of Special Scientific Interest
671 County Wildlife Sites
4 Local Nature Reserves.

Today's Biosphere Reserves have the three complementary functions:

Conservation
Learning and Research
Sustainable Development

and three different management zones:
The Core
The Buffer Zone
The Transition Zone

North Devon's Biosphere Reserve is the first in the UK to meet these new criteria and conditions. To find out more