REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL OF THE MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE (MAB) PROGRAMME ON ITS ACTIVITIES ( ) OUTLINE

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1 37th Session, Paris, 2013 rep Report 37 C/REP/9 30 July 2013 English and French only REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL OF THE MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE (MAB) PROGRAMME ON ITS ACTIVITIES ( ) OUTLINE Source: Article X of the Statutes of the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme. Background: The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) of the MAB Programme comprises 621 sites in 117 countries, including 12 transboundary sites. MAB is implemented by government institutions through National Committees and regional networks, with the support of UNESCO field offices and the MAB Secretariat in Paris. At its 24th session (July 2012), the MAB ICC acknowledged UNESCO contributions to the Rio+20 Summit (20-22 June 2012) and the opportunities for MAB and WNBR to contribute to the follow-up of the Summit and the key role of regional networks. At its 25th session (May 2013), the MAB ICC adopted a three-step exit strategy to ensure the continued adherence of the sites established as biosphere reserves to the Statutory Framework criteria and to ensure the credibility and coherence of the WNBR.

2 37 C/REP/9 Introduction The twenty-fourth session of the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme was held in Paris from 9 to 13 July 2012 and the twenty-fifth session was held in Paris from 27 to 30 May Its Bureau met from 9 to 11 June 2012 and on 27 and 28 May 2013 in Paris. The reports from these meetings can be consulted on the website ( The Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves met twice, from 2 to 4 April 2012 and from 11 to 13 March 2013 and its recommendations were submitted to the MAB Bureau. Composition of the Bureau of the MAB ICC The ICC, at its twenty-fourth session, elected the following officers to constitute its Bureau: Chairperson: Egypt (Dr Boshra Salem) Vice-Chairs: Austria acted for a year until the twenty-fifth session of the ICC in 2013, at which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland took over. Belarus Côte d Ivoire Mexico (Rapporteur) Iran (Islamic Republic of) National and regional activities At the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth sessions of the ICC, Council members stressed the importance of biosphere reserves for promoting the overarching objective of sustainable development and related issues, notably education for sustainable development with reference to the venue of an international conference in Japan in November 2014, green economies, ecosystem services, sustainability science and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Reports were also made on the regional networks, AfriMAB, ArabMAB, EuroMAB, EABRN (East Asian Biosphere Reserve Network), IberoMAB, REDBIOS (Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal) and SACAM (South and Central Asian MAB Network) and SeaBRnet (South East Asian Biosphere Reserve Network). Summaries of their activities are available in the reports of the MAB/ICC and Bureau meetings. Ecological sciences, MAB and biosphere reserves The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) At the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth sessions of the MAB-ICC, the main highlights were: (a) The adoption by the Council of an exit strategy, based on a three-step process to manage the periodic review process as a tool to assess, monitor and improve the quality of the WNBR and to ensure the continued adherence of the sites established as biosphere reserves to the objectives of their establishment and to ensure the credibility and coherence of the WNBR, and to meet Targets 9 and 10 of the Madrid Action Plan;

3 37 C/REP/9 page 2 (b) (c) The update of both the nomination and periodic review forms, including for transboundary biosphere reserves, after a comprehensive consultation process led by an electronic working group, under the chairmanship of Professor Robert Barbault, Chair of the French MAB National Committee, and selected experts from all regions of the world; The setting up of an electronic working group for the evaluation of the Madrid Action Plan, consisting of the MAB Bureau and four biosphere reserve focal points/managers which had undertaken a ranking of the different MAP actions; (d) Calling upon Member States and the Secretariat (in pursuance of 36 C/Resolution 33) to start thinking about strategic action for the future of MAB and WNBR beyond 2013 and draft documents that outline the future directions of MAB and WNBR beyond 2013 for the twenty-sixth session of the MAB-ICC; (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) The periodic review reports of 87 existing biosphere reserves and 32 follow-up recommendations were examined in July 2012 and May The recommendations of the MAB Bureau on these sites were transmitted to the countries concerned to meet the Statutory Framework criteria and reach the Madrid Action Plan Target 13; The Council took note that its Bureau had examined a total of 43 new biosphere reserve proposals in 2012 and 2013 from 29 countries and 4 proposals for extension of existing biosphere reserves. Thirty-two biosphere reserves were designated and four extensions were approved. Two biosphere reserves from the United Kingdom were withdrawn from the WNBR in 2012 and The full list is available at Ms Elizabeth Ines Taylor Jay (Colombia) received the 2012 Michel Batisse Award and Ms Maria Coetzee and Mr Harry Biggs (South Africa) received the 2013 Michel Batisse Award for Biosphere Reserve Management. An Inter-Ministerial and Experts Conference on Biosphere Reserves in the Caribbean Subregion was held in Saint Kitts on 26 and 27 March An action plan for was established with the aim to create a network of biosphere reserves in the Caribbean Small Islands States and to promote biosphere reserves as tools for innovative projects bringing added value to the local socio-economical activities. The Ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Sint Maarten and government representatives of Curaçao, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines announced their commitment to work together in the establishment of biosphere reserves in their countries. The Eleventh International Meeting of the East Atlantic Biosphere Reserve Network (REDBIOS) took place at the Biosphere Reserve of the Island of Príncipe, Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, from 3 to 9 May 2013 with support from the Government of Spain via its Autonomous Organism for National Parks (OAPN), the Regional Government of Principe Island and the MAB Secretariat. Transboundary biosphere reserves Two transboundary biosphere reserves initiatives have been launched in Lake Chad basin as well as in Gabon, Cameroon and Congo since June Transboundary biosphere reserves have been recognized as valuable tools for Peace during the Forum for Culture of Peace and nonviolence organized by the Government of Angola, the African Union and UNESCO in Luanda (Angola) in March 2013.

4 After the official designation ceremony on 18 February 2013 of the first biosphere reserve in Haiti, La Selle Biosphere Reserve and the finalization of Phase I of the biosphere reserve project in Haiti (funded by Spain), the start of a new project Phase II (funded by Spain) will support the consolidation of this biosphere reserve and its extension in a transboundary biosphere reserve with the Dominican Republic. World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves Two meetings of the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves took place in Menorca (Spain) in February 2012 and in Jeju (Republic of Korea) in September The Third Meeting of the Global Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves supported by the West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve (Estonia), Jeju Island Biosphere Reserve (Republic of Korea) and Menorca Biosphere Reserve (Spain) took place in the Islands of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa, West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve (Estonia) from 3 to 7 June These meetings under the Global Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves looked into the potential roles of biosphere reserves in addressing climate change impacts, learning about sustainable development and experimenting on mitigation and adaptation measures on climate change in the context of island and coastal zones. Drylands The Flemish Government of Belgium funded Sumamad Project Phase II, for MAB studies on sustainable management and conservation of marginal drylands in nine Member States in Africa, Arab States, Asia and Latin America was completed. An international workshop on sustainable management of drylands was held in La Paz (Bolivia) in November The final workshop of the project was held in Ghent (Belgium) on 19 June During the project, eight reports where published, as well as a dryland educational kit and several scientific papers. During the second phase, the research teams have worked with local communities to rehabilitate degraded drylands and improve agricultural yields through better water management. They have also prepared policy guidelines for decision-makers, in the form of scenarios for future land-use changes in the context of climate change, with the inclusion of an economic valuation of dryland services at each site. The teams have also helped local communities to adopt more sustainable livelihoods, such as ecotourism, handicraft production, plant medicine, bee-keeping and dietary diversification, to reduce their dependence on traditional dryland agriculture in a deteriorating environment. Biodiversity and ecosystem services The cooperation with the Stockholm Resilience Centre (Sweden) has continued and several workshops were organized on biosphere reserves, ecosystem services and governance in 2012 and 2013 (Sweden, Canada, Spain, United States of America). Cooperation was initiated on biosphere reserves and ecosystems services with the Sub-Global Assessment Network (SGA) using meetings of regional networks such as EuroMAB and AfriMAB to enhance partnerships and exchanges methodologies. The MAB Secretariat has participated in the IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem services) first plenary in Bonn (Germany) in January 2013 and is involved in the UNESCO team discussions for the contribution of the MAB programme and the WNBR to the work programme of the platform. Green economies Since June 2013, the project Green Economies in Biosphere Reserves in Ghana, Nigeria and the United Republic of Tanzania is funded by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The eighth ArabMAB meeting and a technical workshop on Green Economy and Biosphere Reserves were held in Dana Biosphere Reserve (Jordan) on 12 and 13 April 2013.

5 37 C/REP/9 page 4 Education and capacity-building ERAIFT, located at the University of Kinshasa (DRC) and supported by UNDP, the European Union and UNESCO/Belgium Funds-In-Trust Cooperation continued its activities with 26 African specialists from 11 African countries who completed their Master s Degree in April Ninetyseven specialists from 21 countries are currently being trained (64 Master s students and 33 Ph.D. students). By applying Barefoot College approach and methodology, empowerment of illiterate rural women from Volcanoes Biosphere Reserve in Rwanda and access of their villages to renewable energy was achieved. Thanks to the Government of India, four barefoot grandmother solar engineers were trained in 2012 at Barefoot College in Tilonia (India) in setting and maintaining solar equipment. By the end of 2013, a hundred households will be equipped by these trained women. To upscale this result, nine new barefoot grandmother solar engineers will benefit from in-country training. As regards the MAB Young Scientists Awards eighteen winners 11 female, seven male including the special awards supported by the Austrian MAB National Committee were attributed in 2012 and in The MAB programme is institutionally affiliated to the Elinor Ostrom Award, created in tribute of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics, to promote the work of practitioners and scholars involved in the study and practice of the governance of the commons and collective action. The first awards (scientists and practitioners) were attributed in June Publications A training manual on the updated biosphere reserve nomination form was completed, tested and refined in the United Republic of Tanzania and an e-learning kit on MAB and biosphere reserves is under development by the UNESCO Harare Office. A Management Manual for African biosphere reserves is being finalized with the support of Germany. The Spanish version of the UNESCO Teaching Resource Kit for Mountain Countries has been printed and diffused to field offices and Associated Schools Project Coordinators (ASPNet) in the Latin American region. A resource book for educators in South-Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region was published by the UNESCO Venice Office on education for sustainable development in biosphere reserves and other designated areas. Printed on recycled paper