Sustaining Life, Celebrating Nature: Biosphere Reserves

On November 3, the world observes the International Day for Biosphere Reserves, celebrating regions where nature and communities coexist in harmony. These reserves serve as living laboratories that demonstrate practical models of sustainable development, environmental conservation, and community well-being.

Designated by UNESCO, the day underscores the importance of biosphere reserves as vital platforms for advancing scientific research, preserving ecological and cultural diversity, and fostering a balanced relationship between people and the planet.

Biosphere reserves are areas designated by national governments to conserve biodiversity and promote sustainable development. They have been described as ‘learning places for sustainable development’.

They are sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and biodiversity management.

Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each site promotes solutions that reconcile biodiversity conservation with its sustainable use. National governments nominate biosphere reserves and retain sovereign jurisdiction over the states in which they are located.

Biosphere reserves are thus special environments for both people and nature, and living examples of how human beings and nature can coexist while respecting each other’s needs.

UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme   

Biosphere Reserves are internationally recognised under UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme. These reserves must meet specific criteria and conditions before being included in the UNESCO-designated World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).

The network represents the world’s major ecosystem types and landscapes, dedicated to conserving biodiversity, promoting research and monitoring, and providing models of sustainable development.

It combines the natural and social sciences to improve human livelihoods and safeguard natural and managed ecosystems, thereby promoting innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.

By focusing on sites internationally recognised within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the MAB Programme strives to

• Identify and assess changes in the biosphere resulting from human and natural activities, and the effects of these changes on humans and the environment, particularly in the context of climate change.
• Study the interrelationships between ecosystems and socio-economic processes amid the loss of biological & cultural diversity, which hinders ecosystems’ provision of services for human well-being.
• Ensure basic human welfare and a liveable environment, given rapid urbanisation and energy consumption as drivers of environmental change.
• Promote the exchange and transfer of knowledge on environmental problems and solutions, and foster environmental education for sustainable development.

The World Network of Biosphere Reserves forms a dynamic network of sites of excellence that encourages collaboration across regions and fosters international cooperation through the exchange of experiences, capacity-building, and promotion of best practices among Biosphere Reserves.

The MAB Programme operates under the guidance of UNESCO Member States. Its governing body is the International Coordinating Council (MAB-ICC), also known as the MAB Council, composed of 34 Member States.