The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme has added 13 new sites and five extensions in 15 different countries to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), which now numbers 564 sites in 109 countries.

Biosphere Reserves are areas designated under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to serve as places to test different approaches to integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity. Biosphere Reserves are thus sites for experimenting with and learning about sustainable development.

The new sites are:

1. Kozjansko & Obsotelje (Slovenia).

2. Kafa (Ethiopia).

3. Yayu (Ethiopia).

4. Dena (Iran).

5. Naha-Metzabok (Mexico).

6. Los Volcanos (Mexico).

7. Maria’s Island (Mexico).

8. Ometepe Island (Nicaragua).

9. Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha (Peru).

10. Tuchola Forest (Poland).

11. Gwangneung Forest, (Republic of Korea).

12. Lake Vänern Archipelago (Sweden).

13. Middle Zambezi (Zimbabwe).