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. The German part became the 12th of 16 biosphere reserves in Germany[1], 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.[2]
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.
