Following several decades of rapid growth, the tourism sector is of increasing interest in sustainable development discussions. By its very nature, tourism is ambivalent - generating well-known advantages but also problems.

By often targeting fragile ecosystems and local, traditional cultures, the ecotourism industry is of course a particularly challenging case in this context - the main reason why the UN has declared the International Year of Ecotourism 2002. Although the actual or potential benefits and disadvantages from tourism are becoming fairly well documented, there is no consensus internationally on how to best optimize the long-term net tourism benefits. It is the objective of the MAB Programme to contribute to such a consensus through dedicated international co-operation and networking.

With 482 Biosphere Reserves in 102 countries, the World Network of Biosphere Reserves is a unique tool for international co-operation aiming at tracking the path of sustainable tourism through sharing of knowledge, best practices and experiences for designing and managing ecotourism.