Abstract
“BR are much more than just protected areas” was remarked in 1995, on the occasion of the Seville Conference, a milestone in the history of the Man and Biosphere (MaB) Programme of UNESCO. Being inspired by this ultimate remark, the authors of the paper decided to analyse the evolution of the relationship between the Biosphere Reserves (BRs) and the Protected Areas (PAs), in terms of conceptual and operational approaches developed by both the respective scientific and practitioners’ communities. From being initially identified as sub-portions of pre-existing protected areas – as observed in the early designations dating back to the 1970s and 1980s of the last century – BRs have become larger, in terms of their total extensions, and multifunctional, in terms of their zoning drivers, including the PAs as only one portion of the entire designated territories. Paradoxically, the MaB Programme has never explicitly considered the “landscape” as a specific BR attribute (or nomination criteria), on the contrary to what has happened at UNESCO within the World Heritage Convention, where the concept of cultural landscape has become an official category of designated sites since 1992. The analysis concludes by observing how the relationship between BR and PAs may be easily transformed into a liaison dangereuse when a clear distinction of the respective primary functions and their territorial implications (the zoning) has not been applied. The two governance regimes can be easily confused with each other with clear difficulties of engineering appropriate management measures and risks of reducing their effectiveness.
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Notes
- 1.
On 23 October 1970, the foundation of the MaB programme was adopted by the 16th UNESCO General Conference.
- 2.
UNESCO (1971), p. 21.
- 3.
This original denomination has been recently subject to criticisms (see, for instance, the Proceedings of the International Conference “Biodiversity and Society”, held in New York, Columbia University, May 2001), mostly due to the fact that it evokes images of places, which are almost untouched and remotely located. No consensus has been reached so far at the international level to change the official name; but it is allowed to use local (national) names that may not contain the word “reserve” (e.g., the Monviso Biosphere Reserve is called Area della Biosfera, in the Italian language).
- 4.
“The designation of BRs was delegated by the MaB Council to its six-member Bureau. The main criteria to approve BRs was their conservation role, together with the presence of research facilities or a particularly history. In fact, the Bureau adopted a very flexible approach, considering it sufficient for the areas proposed by the MaB Committees to appear of interest for the conservation of ecosystems, possess appropriate legal protection and be the object of a reasonable amount of research work” (Hadley 2011).
- 5.
The statutes of the Advisory Committee, stipulate that it has the task “to advise the Director-General of UNESCO on the scientific and technical matters concerning the designation, evaluation and management of BRs as well as the development, operation and monitoring of the international BR network”.
- 6.
The term has been used to describe the conditions where protected areas exist “on paper” but not in reality (Phillips 2003).
- 7.
The 1996–2000 period has registered an average of 12.6 BR nomination per year (UNESCO 2002).
- 8.
The primeval global issues of the “development” and the “human development” evolved in the “sustainable development”, “system of objectives” (Vallega 1995).
- 9.
One example of the scientific work of the MaB programme in the first decade of its existence is the research on desert areas: after long droughts in the Sahel zone from 1968 to 1973, UNESCO began to draw up research plans for the Sahel region of Niamey (Niger), North Africa, and large-scale irrigation systems in the Sahara. UNESCO-MaB’s and UNEP’s IPAL (Integrated Programme on Arid Lands) project in northern Kenya was funded by Germany until the mid-1980s. Numerous publications resulted from this project. In 1977, the World Map of Arid Regions was published within the framework of the MaB Programme, and a series of case studies was formulated in Pakistan and Chile, e.g., on how to control desertification. In 1978, the desert laboratory in Mapimi (Mexico) was inaugurated. The intensity of these research activities was held up during the 1980s, and new projects were added continuously.
- 10.
The three options used by the Advisory Committee in recommending the ICC are (1) to be accepted, when the dossier is complete; (2) to be deferred, when the dossier is acceptable but some important elements are missing; and (3) to be rejected, when the dossier reflects a proposal that – for some reasons – cannot fulfil the required criteria.
- 11.
Only recently (on the occasion of the 25th ICC), IUCN was asked by the ICC to provide an official proposal on how to structure a possible external advisor role for the MaB Program.
- 12.
Namely, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD 1992), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES 1973), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS or Bonn Convention 1979), and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar 1971).
- 13.
The Statutory Framework of the World Network and the Seville Strategy were adopted under 28/C/Resolution 2.4 of the UNESCO General Conference, in November 1995.
- 14.
The Biosphere Reserve Concept, in “The Seville Strategy and Statutory Framework of the World Network”, UNESCO 1995, p. 4.
- 15.
UNESCO hosts the World Heritage Centre, which acts as the Secretariat of the World Heritage Convention.
- 16.
On the occasion of the 16th Session of the World Heritage Committee (1992).
- 17.
One recent example is given by the paper presented by Pablo B. Eyzaguirre, on the occasion of the Expert Planning Workshop, held at UNESCO HQs on 24–25 March 2011, on “Bio-Cultural Mosaic Landscapes: Centres of Crop Domestication and Eco-Agricultural Adaptation and Innovation in the MaB Global Network”.
- 18.
The oldest National Park in the world may be Bogd Khan Uul, established in 1783 in Mongolia. The first to be established in the West was Yellowstone, in the USA (1872).
- 19.
Occurred in 1996, 2000, and 2003.
- 20.
This is the title of the UNESCO Today, the journal of the German Commission for UNESCO, issue no. 2/2007.
- 21.
“Biosphere Reserves are an idea and an ideal” affirmed Peter Bridgewater, former MaB Secretariat Director, on the occasion of the Madrid Conference (February 2008).
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Andrian, G., Tufano, M. (2015). Biosphere Reserves and Protected Areas: A Liaison Dangereuse or a Mutually Beneficial Relationship?. In: Gambino, R., Peano, A. (eds) Nature Policies and Landscape Policies. Urban and Landscape Perspectives, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05410-0_11
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