Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve

The Franco-German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve (German: Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Nordvogesen, French: Réserve de biosphère transfrontalière des Vosges du Nord-Forêt palatine) was created in 1998 as the first UNESCO trans-boundary biosphere reserve in Europe.

Management of the Reserve is a collaborative effort between the two countries, delegated to a coordinating committee made up of representatives from both countries (the Syndicat de coopération du Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord, on the French side, and the Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Nordvogesen, on the German side), chaired alternately every two years by a French or German elected official.

This geographical entity, which constitutes the largest forest area in Western Europe, remains the least populated.

Cultural heritage is also well represented, as the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve region, with over 95 castles, is one of the areas with the highest density of these witnesses to our historical past.

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.