Abstract
In June 2015, the Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve was officially nominated as a new addition to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere program (UNESCO 1971). This official recognition of Lake Tana and its immediate surroundings as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve was the culmination to date of a process which had started many years previously. This chapter describes why a Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve was proposed, the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve approach, the geographic description of the Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve, and why a biosphere reserve is a good solution for the Lake Tana Region. It explains the process followed to prepare the Lake Tana region to become a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, including stakeholder contributions to the application/nomination process, vision and goals of the Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve, and its zonation. Finally, it discusses what will be needed for the successful management of the Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve, including a description of the Reserve management structure and the challenges faced in fulfilling the BR mandate of integration and networking.
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- 1.
“Lake Tana Region” is a term differently cited in literature. It has no fixed boundaries. Lake Tana Region is a part of Lake Tana watershed and includes the lake as well as areas with strong ecological, cultural and socio-economic linkages to the lake. This is the sense in which I use the term “Lake Tana Region” in this chapter. Data provided in studies sometimes refer to the watershed, sometimes to the region. Only little data specifically for the area of the Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve exist to date.
References
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Acknowledgements
For the writing of this chapter I benefited greatly from fruitful discussions with my colleagues both at NABU and at Michael Succow Foundation in Germany, in particular with Svane Bender-Kaphengst, Renée Moreaux and my co-authors of the LTBR management plan. My understanding of Ethiopian administrative and social functioning was much enhanced by daily interaction and discussions with my Ethiopian NABU colleagues and our BoCTPD partners, in particular with Getinet Fetene, Negash Atnafu, Teklu Damtie, Alemayehu Zewdie and Tadesse Adgo.
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Kalmbach, E. (2017). Establishment of the Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve within the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves. In: Stave, K., Goshu, G., Aynalem, S. (eds) Social and Ecological System Dynamics. AESS Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45755-0_29
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