AfriMAB

The last meeting of the AfriMAB Network was held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 10 to 15 September 2007. To learn more about the main results of the meeting click here

This network was created by the "Regional Conference for Forging Cooperation on Africa's Biosphere Reserves for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development" which took place in Dakar (Senegal) in 1996. The network aims at promoting regional co-operation in the fields of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development through transborder projects, which are primarily based in biosphere reserves.

To increase efficiency, four thematic sub-networks were created which correspond to:

• Zoning and improving biosphere reserve functioning
• Biosphere reserves and local communities; stakeholders/social actors participation and income-sharing
• Transboundary biosphere reserves
• Logistic support function of biosphere reserves

Click here to read more on AfriMAB on the UNESCO-Dakar field office web

ArabMAB

The ArabMAB Network was officially launched in Amman (Jordan) in 1997. The overall objective of ArabMAB is to promote co-operation between Arab National MAB Committees in order to strengthen the MAB programme in the Arab Region, including through the establishment of biosphere reserves and the implementation of common research and public awareness projects. Members of ArabMAB constitute the ArabMAB Coordinating Council that meets every two years to elect a Bureau and to adopt a work programme for the biennium. The Council meetings are usually also the venue for expert meetings and technical workshops. The Amman meeting was immediately followed by holding the 1st ArabMAB Arab Coordinating Council meeting. The other ArabMAB ACC meetings were held in Agadir, Morocco, 1999, in Damascus, Syria, in 2001, and in Beyrouth, Lebanon in 2004. The 5th meeting was held at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in June 2007. Presently, the ArabMAB Bureau has the following composition:

• Chairman: Dr. Samir Ghabbour (Egypt)
• Vice-Chairman and Past President: Dr. Ghassan Jaradi (Lebanon).
• Ms. Boshra Salem (Egypt) (Secretariat)
• Ms. Salwa Abdulhamid (Sudan)
• Ms. Hala Guidara (Tunis)
• Mr. Jamal Al-Abaychi (Iraq)

The ArabMAB network has its own web site.

CYTED, the Ibero-American Programme for the Development of Science and Technology.

A thematic network on biosphere reserves has been established within the larger framework of CYTED. One of the projects is on biodiversity and the idea is to accomplish actions that will generate an effective cooperation between biosphere reserves and promote activities that will make the biosphere reserves sustainable. The network meets every year. Its permanent secretary is provided by the UCI - Universidad para la Cooperación Internacional, San José, Costa Rica.
Contact: Prof, Eduard Müller, UCI, San Jose, Costa Rica or Dr. Miguel Clüsener-Godt, MAB Secretariat.

EuroMAB

EuroMAB is the largest and oldest of the MAB networks (52 countries including Canada and the USA). Meetings of the MAB National Committees of EuroMAB have taken place almost every two years since 1986. However, given the large number of biosphere reserves (now 254), it has been difficult to organize EuroMAB meetings which comprehensively reflected the needs and interests of all MAB National Committees and at the same time all the biosphere reserve coordinators. The last full coordinators' meeting was held in 1998 in Finland, and the following EuroMAB meetings in 2000 (Cambridge, UK) and 2002 (Rome, Italy) involved a limited number of biosphere reserve coordinators. A NordMAB biosphere reserve meeting was held in Latvia in 2004. (More on EuroMAB Webplatform)

Bridging Science and Society - EuroMAB 2007
Background and objectives
EuroMAB 2007 will focus on how to enhance linkages between Science and Society, using the experience of the 248 biosphere reserves in the 32 countries making up the EuroMAB Network as learning and sharing sites for sustainable development. EuroMAB 2007 meeting will define an agenda for the EuroMAB Network in order to better integrate the science and knowledge sharing approach within biosphere reserves with practices and management of natural and cultural assets in Europe, in order to make this Network and its achievements more visible and politically relevant.

EuroMAB 2007 participants will elaborate a strategy for the Network to better participate in political and scientific debates and forums at the European and North America levels. This will include EuroMAB contributions to meet the 2010 biodiversity target, support to the implementation of the Thematic strategy on the Urban Environment, to the Aarhus Convention, to the Hanasaari Declaration as well as the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment.

EuroMAB 2007 will also make a specific contribution for the Madrid Action Plan, reflecting on how EuroMAB Network could increase the capacity of biosphere reserves to deal with changes and environmental transformations such as urbanization, climate change, migration and be effective learning platforms for sustainable development.

Draft programme EuroMAB Antalya, 12-16 November 2007 Antalya (Turkey)
The draft programme for the EuroMAB meeting on ‘Bridging Science and Society’ is now available. An e-conference on the five proposed sessions is online until end of September 2007 at for posting your comments as well as proposals for papers, case studies, presentations:

• Thematic issue 1: How to use biosphere reserve as learning sites for sustainable development and what contributions to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development?
• Thematic issue 2: How to enhance the capacity of biosphere reserves to mitigate/abate and adapt to climate change?
• Thematic issue 3: How does zonation of a biosphere reserve contribute to sustainable development?
• Thematic issue 4: How to better reach and capture the economic and social benefits of biosphere reserves?
• Thematic issue 5: How can biosphere reserves deal with environmental transformations such as urbanization and in-/out migration?

More information and the registration form are available at the following website

IberoMAB

This Latin American Biosphere Reserves Network aims at strengthening the MAB Programme in Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, notably by consolidating their MAB National Committees and co-operative links, and promoting the creation of new biosphere reserves. The ninth IberoMAB Meeting: International Conference on "Conserving Internationally Designated Areas: Biosphere Reserves, World Heritage and Ramsar Sites in Iberoamerica" has been organised in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, from 27 to 29 October 2005, by the Institute of Ecology A.C., MAB-Mexico and UNESCO/MAB with support from CONACYT, DIVERSITAS-México, National Commission for Protected Areas in Mexico and the Government of Spain.

(Participants of the 9th IberoMAB Meeting in Xalapa, Mexico)

The Xth Meeting of IberoMAB is scheduled for October 2006 in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.
Contact: Dr. Sergio Guevara, Instituto de Ecología (Mexico), or Dr. Miguel Clüsener-Godt, MAB Secretariat or Dr Claudia Karez, UNESCO Montevideo. The official website available here.

PacMAB

At a meeting in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, in December 2006, representatives of four Pacific island countries - Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau and Samoa - currently working on the development of biosphere reserves, formally established the Pacific Man and the Biosphere Network (PacMAB). The meeting marked the first formal gathering of MAB Focal Points in the Pacific, signaling the interest of the region in fully participating in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves alongside other regional MAB networks.

Delegates at the meeting issued a formal Statement summarizing their key decisions to:

• Establish PacMAB as the MAB Network for the Pacific sub-region;
• Invite other Pacific island countries to identify MAB Focal Points and new potential biosphere reserves;
• Invite UNESCO to seek and provide support for the consolidation and development of the network;
• Draft a two-year work plan for the network and circulate it for comments and inputs from network members within three months.

It is expected that PacMAB will expand rapidly in the coming years, as additional biosphere reserves are established in the Pacific island countries.

While early ecological studies under the MAB Programme took place in the Pacific sub-region in the 1970s, it was only in 2001 with the establishment of UNESCO's ASPACO project that the Pacific sub-region as a whole actively engaged with the MAB Programme with a view towards establishing new biosphere reserves.

Following a period of consultation and assesment of how the biosphere reserve concept could best be applied against the background of traditional land management and conservation in the sub-region, the first Pacific island biosphere reserves were established in Palau (Ngaremeduu) and the Federated States of Micronesia (Utwe) in 2005. Additional sites are currently under consideration in several other countries of the sub-region.

For further details contact Mr Hans Thulstrup, UNESCO Apia Office.

REDBIOS

Red del Atlántico Este de Reservas de Biosfera (REDBIOS) La red REDBIOS comprende las Islas Canarias (España), Cabo Verde, Mauritania, Madeira y Azores (Portugal), Marruecos y Senegal. La red cumple un mandato interregional permitiendo a los países de la región Macaronesia de cooperar y de intercambiar sus experiencias. La octava reunión de REDBIOS tendrá lugar en octubre de 2006 en El Hierro, Islas Canarias, España.

(Participants of the 7th REDBIOS meeting in Gran Canaria, Spain, 2005)

Réseau Est Atlantique de Réserves de Biosphère (REDBIOS)
Le réseau REDBIOS est composé des Iles Canaries (Espagne), du Cap Vert, de la Mauritanie, de Madère et des Açores (Portugal), du Maroc et du Sénégal. Le réseau remplit un mandat interrégional en permettant aux pays de la région Macaronésienne de coopérer et d'échanger leurs expériences. La huitième réunion REDBIOS aura lieu en octobre 2006 à El Hierro, îles Canaries, Espagne.

East Atlantic Biosphere Reserve Network (REDBIOS)
The REDBIOS Network comprises Canary Islands (Spain), Cape Verde, Mauritania, Madeira and Azores (Portugal), Morocco and Senegal. The network fulfils an interregional mandate in enabling countries from the Macaronesian Region to co-operate and to exchange their experiences. The eight meeting of REDBIOS will take place in October 2006 in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain.

SeaBRnet - Southeast Asian Biosphere Reserve Network

Initiated in 1998, this network comprises today Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Moreover, Australia, Republic of Korea and some South Asian countries (India, Sri Lanka) are associated with SeaBRnet and often participate in SeaBRnet activities. The network's objective is to foster cooperation on various scientific, ecosystem and biosphere reserve management related issues, such as ecotones, mangroves, coastal areas, quality economies, and rehabilitation of degraded environments. Thanks to funding provided by the Government of Japan since 2002, the interlinked MAB Ecotone and SeaBRnet initiatives are serviced by a Secretariat provided by the UNESCO-Jakarta Office. For further details contact: Koen Meyers, UNESCO Jakarta Office

South and Central Asia MAB Network (SACAM) MAB representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka met in Dehra Dun (India) in February 2001 in the context of the "Regional Meeting of Co-ordinators of MAB National Committees and Biosphere Reserves in South and Central Asia". At this meeting, participants felt that closer collaboration through the creation of a sub-regional network could facilitate information exchange on biodiversity conservation, forest ecosystems, land degradation and rehabilitation in vulnerable ecological systems and waste management.

On 15 - 18 October 2002, MAB-Sri Lanka hosted the "South and Central Asian MAB Meeting of Experts on Environmental Conservation, Management and Research" in Hikkaduwa, which was attended by representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. One important outcome of the meeting was the creation of a new sub-regional MAB network entitled "South and Central Asia MAB Network (SACAM)". The Statutes of the SACAM Network are available here. The first issue of the 'South and Central Asia MAB Network Newsletter' prepared by MAB-Sri Lanka is available in pdf-format.

From 25 - 28 September 2004, the Islamic Republic of Iran hosted the 2nd SACAM Network meeting in Zibakenar, which focused on "Sustainable Eco-tourism in Biosphere Reserves and Similarly Managed Areas". The meeting was attended by representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The recommendations of the meeting are available here.
For further information, contact: UNESCO-New Delhi Office.