Biosphere reserves of Ukraine

Biosphere reserves of Ukraine (Біосферні резервати України) are preservation territories of international importance that are part of the Nature-Preservation Fund of Ukraine.

Overview
The Ukrainian legislation has its own regulations about biosphere reserves which differs slightly from international. Nonetheless, Ukraine recognizes the International designation for natural conservation as well. Thus in Ukraine exist two concepts: biosphere reserves and biosphere preserves (біосферні заповідники).

Biosphere preserves existed in the Soviet Union before establishment of the UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1971. Particularly in Ukraine, Carpathian Biosphere Reserve was created in 1968, but was admitted to the MAB programme only after fall of the Soviet Union in 1992.

The Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve, which was created by the President in 2016, is a biosphere preserve (zapovidnyk) but not a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Since 2012 there are eight biosphere reserves in Ukraine from the original three that the country inherited from the Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR).