UNESCO's 'Man and the Biosphere' programme (MAB), proposes an interdisciplinary research
agenda and education for capacity building aimed at improving the relationship of people, as
citizens, with their environment globally. Launched in the early 1970s, it notably targets mass
consumerism through the ecological, social and economic dimensions of biodiversity loss and the
reduction of this loss. It uses its World Network of Biosphere Reserves for knowledge-sharing,
research and monitoring, education and training, and participatory decision- making in plans for
sustainability.
MAB was launched in 1970 and initiated work in 14 Project areas covering different
ecosystem
types from mountains to the sea, from rural to urban systems, as well more social aspects such
as environmental perception. The MAB governing body, the International Co-ordinating Council of
the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, usually referred to as the MAB Council or ICC,
consists of 34 Member States elected by UNESCO's biennial General Conference. In between
meetings, the authority of the ICC is delegated to its Bureau, whose members are nominated from
each of UNESCO's geopolitical regions.
MAB's work over the years has concentrated on the development of the World Network
of
Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).
The biosphere reserve concept was developed initially in 1974 and was substantially
revised in
1995 with the adoption by the UNESCO General Conference of the Statutory Framework and the
Seville Strategy for Biosphere Reserves. Today, with more than 480 sites in over 100 countries, the
WNBR provides context-specific opportunities to apply scientific knowledge to planning at all levels
from government to community with the objectives of:
- Reducing biodiversity loss
- Improving livelihoods
- Enhancing social, economic and cultural
conditions for environmental sustainability
Thus contributing to the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular
MDG 7 on
environmental sustainability
Regarding capacity building, biosphere reserves can serve as learning and demonstration
sites to
promote global citizenship and sustainability, in the framework of the United Nations Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). In this respect the reserves have:
- a conservation function - to contribute
to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems,
species and genetic variation;
- a development function - to foster
economic and human development which is socio-
culturally and ecologically sustainable;
- a logistic function - to provide
support for research, monitoring, education and information
exchange related to local, national and global issues of conservation and development.
The aim of a biosphere reserve is to encourage people to get involved with the management
of
these functions. A management system is needed that is open, evolving and adaptive, in order for
the local community to better respond to external political, economic and social pressures, which
would affect the ecological and cultural values of the area. This can best be achieved through
organising the community system of 'people and environment' as an interdisciplinary knowledge
framework of cultural ecology. Cultural ecology presents routes to engage people with
- managing consumerism to reduce inequalities;
- managing resources to improve livelihoods;
- managing resources for environmental
sustainability;
- through plans for managing natural
resources to improve livelihoods and maintain conditions for
environmental sustainability.
As a process of enablement, the educational aim of cultural ecology is to encourage
people to
create self- made knowledge maps to position themselves within local plans for sustainability in
work, community, neighbourhood and home. The practical objective of cultural ecology is to
promote solutions to reconcile the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Therefore,
involvement in a management plan which presenting local issues in their wider interdisciplinary
aspects, promotes both local and global citizenship.
