Bogeda

Bogeda Biosphere Reserve is located in the east part of the Tianshan Mountains on the southern brim of the Kurbantungut desert of the Zhunger Basin. Ranging from its highest elevation at 5,445 meters and the lowest at 460 meters above sea level, this biosphere reserve encompasses glaciers, (sub-) alpine meadows, forests, steppes, deserts, sand dunes and alluvial plains. One habitat of special interest is the mid-mountain forest which prevents floods and erosion and represents an important water reservoir for the area. The well preserved Haloxylon spp. vegetation along the southern edge of the Kurbantungut desert is an important barrier preventing the spread of the desert.

Some 4,000 people are permanent residents of the core area, 10,000 people live in the buffer zone and 120,000 people in the transition area of the biosphere reserve (2001). People are living from livestock raising, the collection of medicinal plants, tourism, coal mining and small-scale industry. Some 350,000 tourists come to the biosphere reserve each year (2001), visiting for example a shrine of Taoism at Lake Tianchi in the core area. Read more about this biosphere reserve on the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves website.

© Profile picture: Gilad Rom