Ugam-Chatkal State Biosphere Reserve

The Ugam-Chatkal State Biosphere Reserve covers more than 50,000 hectares across the Bostanliq, Akhangaran, and Parkent districts of Tashkent region, in the western Tian Shan mountains. The protected area has a long history: it began in 1947 as a mountain-forest reserve, was renamed the Chatkal Reserve in 1959, and was recognized as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1986. A 2018 decree of Uzbekistan's Cabinet of Ministers formally re-established it as the Ugam-Chatkal biosphere reserve, making it the country's second biosphere reserve and its first located in a high-mountain setting. Part of its territory, the Bashkyzylsay area, has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 2016 as part of the transboundary Western Tien Shan site. The reserve's forests, meadows, and rocky slopes support more than 1,100 plant species and some 240 vertebrate species, including roughly 184 kinds of birds, making it one of the richest pockets of biodiversity in Central Asia.