Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve

The Franco-German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve (Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Nordvogesen, Réserve de biosphère transfrontalière des Vosges du Nord-Forêt palatine) was created in 1998 as the first UNESCO trans-boundary biosphere reserve in Europe. The German part became the 12th of 16 biosphere reserves in Germany, and the French part, the 6th of 14 in France.

The biosphere reserve is a fusion of the older Palatinate Forest Nature Park in Germany and Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park in France, covering a total area of 3,018 km2, with 1,809.7 km2 in Germany and 1208.3 km2 in France respectively.

Location
The biosphere reserve lies in the Palatinate Forest and in the North Vosges on the boundary between the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the northeast French region of Grand Est.