UNESCO recognized Menorca as a natural biosphere reserve on 8th of October of 1993, taking into consideration its high degree of compatibility achieved between the development of economic activities, expenditure and the conservation of a heritage and landscape that has maintained, and continues maintaining today, an exceptional quality. Menorca has a very rich and traditional rural countryside. It hosts a remarkable diversity of Mediterranean habitats in which rare animal species and plants live, some of them in threat of extinction.