SHORT HISTORY OF THE UNESCO MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE PROGRAMME AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
In the early 1970s, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) developed a new programme with a focus on human interaction with the natural environment. This was named the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and originated with the Biosphere Conference in 1968 in Paris, France. The MAB Programme was formally launched by UNESCO at the 16th session of the General Conference in 1970, with the aim to be a fully interdisciplinary effort across natural and social sciences (Bridgewater 2016). The programme’s main governing body is the International Co-ordinating Council of the MAB Programme (MAB-ICC), which was established at the first meeting in 1971 and continues to meet annually. The MAB Programme finds implementation in sites called Biosphere Reserves. All Biosphere Reserves form part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) which currently comprises 714 sites in 129 countries across the globe.
An Action Plan for Biosphere Reserves was formulated during the first international conference on Biosphere Reserves in Minsk, Belarus in 1983 and endorsed by UNESCO in 1984. The second international conference on Biosphere Reserves was held in Seville, Spain, in 1995. The main outcome of this gathering was the Seville Strategy and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (UNESCO 1996). Until today these documents provide a common platform for the development of Biosphere Reserves, and define the principles, criteria and procedure for their designation. In February 2008 the third World Congress of Biosphere Reserves was held in Madrid, Spain. The congress adopted the Madrid Action Plan that plotted the future strategy of the MAB Programme for 2008 to 2013 at the levels of the MAB-ICC, MAB Bureau and MAB Secretariat, regional networks, national MAB committees, and individual Biosphere Reserves. The Madrid Action Plan promoted Biosphere Reserves to be ‘the principal internationally-designated areas dedicated to sustainable development in the 21st century’. The fourth world congress, held in Lima, Peru in 2016, resulted in a new 10-year roadmap for Biosphere Reserves (2015-2025) comprising the new MAB Strategy and the Lima Action Plan (available from https://en.unesco.org/mab/strategy).
The vision of the MAB Programme is “a world where people are conscious of their common future and their interactions with the planet, and act collectively and responsibly to build thriving societies in harmony with the biosphere. The MAB Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves serve this vision through Biosphere Reserves and beyond”.
The WNBR is supported by different regional, sub-regional and thematic networks. The MAB Programme has been introduced to South Africa in the early 1990s coinciding with the country re-entering the international arena. South Africa currently has ten designated biosphere reserves (designated from 1998 to 2018) that cover approximately 9.5% of the total land area (Pool-Stanvliet & Coetzer 2019). South Africa forms part of AfriMAB, the regional network for Sub-Saharan Africa that was launched in 1996 in Dakar, Senegal. South Africa has established a National MAB Committee in 2010 and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries is the dedicated focal point for implementation of MAB, with support from the relevant provincial authorities.
Biosphere Reserves in South Africa are not enforced through legislation, but instead implemented in a ‘soft-law’ spirit through collaboration between the Biosphere Reserve management entities and major stakeholders and role-players. By establishing these relationships, Biosphere Reserves enable more defensible socio-political decision-making. Implementation of the MAB Programme in South Africa is currently guided by the Strategy for the Biosphere Reserve Programme (2016 – 2020; at present under review) and the Implementation Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework associated with the national Strategy (Government of South Africa 2015). This national strategy aligns with the global MAB Strategy and Lima Action Plan and provides guidance to existing Biosphere Reserves as well as new initiatives.
Biosphere Reserves foster collaborative thinking about the future management of a defined space in line with an adopted long-term vision. It promotes decentralization of decision-making whilst promoting collaboration and co-management practices between all stakeholders (Pool-Stanvliet 2013). The MAB Programme promotes sustainable social-ecological land management strategies and Biosphere Reserves indeed live up to their reputation as ‘special places for people and nature’.
REFERENCES:
Bridgewater, P. 2016. The Man and Biosphere programme of UNESCO: rambunctious child of the sixties, but was the promise fulfilled? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 19: 1–6.
Government of South Africa. 2015. The South African Strategy for the Biosphere Reserve Programme (2016-2020). Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Environment Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries. Available from:https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/reports/southafricanstrategy_biospherereserve2016_2020.pdf
Pool-Stanvliet, R. 2013. A history of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme in South Africa. South African Journal of Science vol 109, no 9/10, Art. #a0035, 6 pages, http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/sajs.2013/a0035
Pool-Stanvliet, R. & Coetzer, K. 2019. Innovative implementation of the UNESCO MAB Programme in South Africa towards the advancement of sustainable landscapes. Country chapter in: Reed, M.R. & Price, M.F. (eds.) UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: Supporting Biocultural Diversity, Sustainability and Society. Routledge: Earthscan, pp. 176 – 189.
UNESCO. 1996. Biosphere reserves: the Seville Strategy and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. UNESCO, Paris.