Volga-Akhtuba Floodplain

Volga-Akhtuba Floodplain Biosphere Reserve  includes the upstream part of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain (north of the floodplain‘s Kammennoyarsk contraction) within the Volgograd Oblast and, partly, the first above-floodplain terrace of the Akhtuba river.

The south-eastern part of the area has lower absolute ground elevations compared with the north-western part, as a result of which it is more inundated than the latter.

The hydrographic network of the proposed Biosphere Reserve is an extremely complicated system whose character is largely determined by the area‘s geomorphological characteristics. It is represented by the following waterway types:  rivers (the Volga and Akhtuba rivers); distributaries and channels of different orders (191 streams); lakes (2,753 lakes, the area of 10,220 ha at the normal water level); marshland (2 marshes of the total area of 206.8 ha).

There are 97 rural communities within the proposed Biosphere Reserve limits located mostly in the Sredneakhtubinski and Leninski Districts. Approximate number of people living within Read more about this biosphere reserve on the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves website.