Biosphere Reserves - Key Concepts

Biosphere Reserves: Key Concepts

What are Biosphere Reserves?

Biosphere reserves are sites established by countries and recognized under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science.

Biosphere reserves are areas of terrestrial and coastal ecosystems promoting solutions to reconcile conservation of biological and cultural diversity and economic and social development through partnerships between people and nature. They serve as 'living laboratories' for testing out and demonstrating integrated management of land, water and biodiversity and demonstrate innovative approaches to sustainable development from local to international scales.   

Biosphere reserves are thus globally considered as:

• sites of excellence where new and optimal practices to manage nature and human activities are tested and demonstrated;
• tools to help countries implement the results of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and, in particular, the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Ecosystem Approach;
• learning sites for the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.

They are internationally recognized, nominated by national governments and remain under sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located, yet they share their experience and ideas nationally, regionally and internationally within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). The first biosphere reserve of the world was established in 1979, since then the network of  biosphere reserves has increased to 580 in 114 countries across the world (MAB, 2012). BRs are thus special environments for both people and the nature and are living examples of how human beings and nature can co-exist while respecting each others’ needs.

How did the biosphere reserve concept start?

The origin of Biosphere Reserves goes back to the "Biosphere Conference" organized by UNESCO in 1968. This was the 1st intergovernmental conference examining how to reconcile the conservation and use of natural resources, thereby foreshadowing the present-day notion of sustainable development. This Conference resulted in the launching of the UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere" (MAB) Programme in 1970. One of the original MAB projects consisted in establishing a coordinated World Network of sites representing the main ecosystems of the planet in which genetic resources would be protected, and where research on ecosystems as well as monitoring and training work could be carried out. These sites were named as "Biosphere Reserves", in reference to the MAB programme itself.

What are the functions of biosphere reserves?

Each biosphere reserve is intended to fulfill 3 basic functions, which are complementary and mutually reinforcing:

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. 

How are Biosphere Reserves organized? /What are the zones of a Biosphere Reserve? /Comment on the structure and design of Biosphere Reserve.

To carry out the complementary activities of nature conservation and use of natural resources, biosphere reserves are organized into three interrelated zones, known as the core area, the buffer zone and the transition area.

The core area

It needs to be legally established and give long-term protection to the landscapes, ecosystems and species it contains. It should be sufficiently large to meet these conservation objectives. As nature is rarely uniform and as historical land-use constraints exist in many parts of the world, there may be several core areas in a single biosphere reserve to ensure a representative coverage of the mosaic of ecological systems. The core zone is to be kept free from all human pressures external to the system.

A buffer zone (or zones)

It is a zone which is clearly delineated and which surrounds or is contiguous to the core area. Activities are organized here so that they do not hinder the conservation objectives of the core area but rather help to protect it, hence the idea of "buffering". It can be an area for experimental research, for example to discover ways to manage natural vegetation, croplands, forests, fisheries, to enhance high quality production while conserving natural processes and biodiversity, including soil resources, to the maximum extent possible. In a similar manner, experiments can be carried out in the buffer zone to explore how to rehabilitate degraded areas. It may accommodate education, training, tourism and recreation facilities.

The Transition Area:

The Transition Zone is the outermost part of a Biosphere Reserve. This is usually not delimited one and is a zone of cooperation where conservation, knowledge and management skills are applied and uses are managed in harmony with the purpose of the Biosphere Reserve. This includes settlements, crop lands, managed forests and area for intensive recreation, and other economic uses characteristic of the region. In Buffer Zone and the Transition Zones, manipulative macro-management practices are used. Experimental research areas are used for understanding the patterns and processes in the ecosystem. Modified or degraded landscapes are included as rehabilitation areas to restore the ecology in a way that it returns to sustainable productivity.

How are Biosphere Reserves selected?

Biosphere reserves cover the great variety of natural areas of the biosphere, going from high mountains to greatly human-impacted plains, from coastal regions and islands to vast inland forests, from the deserts of the tropics to the tundra of the polar regions.

To qualify for designation as a biosphere reserve, an area should normally:

• be representative of a major biogeographic region, including a gradation of human intervention in these systems;
• contain landscapes, ecosystems or animal and plant species, or varieties which need to be conserved;
• provide an opportunity to explore and demonstrate approaches to sustainable development within the larger region where they are located;
• be of an appropriate size to serve the three functions of biosphere reserves mentioned above;
• have an appropriate zoning system, with a legally constituted core area or areas, devoted to long-term protection; a clearly identified buffer zone or zones and an outer transition area

What are the benefits of biosphere reserves? Why do we need Biosphere Reserves?

We need biosphere reserves too conserve biological diversity, to maintain healthy ecosystems and to learn about natural systems and how they are changing.

• The biosphere reserve concept can be used as a framework to guide and reinforce projects to enhance people's livelihoods and ensure environmental sustainability. UNESCO recognition can serve to highlight and reward such individual efforts.
• Designation of a site as a biosphere reserve can raise awareness among local people, citizens and government authorities on environmental and development issues. It can help attract additional funding from different sources.
• At the national level, biosphere reserves can serve as pilot sites or "learning places" to explore and demonstrate approaches to conservation and sustainable development, providing lessons which can be applied elsewhere.
• In addition, they are a concrete means for countries to implement Agenda 21, the Convention on Biological Diversity (for example the Ecosystem Approach), many Millennium Development Goals (for example on environmental sustainability), and the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
• In the case of large natural areas which straddle national boundaries, transboundary biosphere reserves can be established jointly by the countries concerned, testifying to long term cooperative efforts.

Direct Beneficiaries of the Biosphere Reserves are the local people and the ecological resources and  indirect beneficiaries are scientists, government decision makers and the world community.

What is the difference between a biosphere reserve and a natural World Heritage site?

A biosphere reserve is a representative ecological area with 3 mutually reinforcing functions: conservation, sustainable development and logistic support for scientific research and education. Collectively, all biosphere reserves form a World Network linked by exchanges of experience and knowledge. They are part of a UNESCO scientific programme, governed by a "soft law", the Statutory Framework.

Natural World Heritage sites must be of outstanding universal value in accordance with the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). Efforts to enhance local development and to promote scientific understanding are means to ensure the protection of the natural World Heritage values.

In some instances, a core area of a biosphere reserve can meet World Heritage criteria: the usually larger biosphere reserve can therefore serve as a complementary means to protect the integrity of the World Heritage site.