Background
MAB was launched in 1970 and initiated work in 14 Project areas covering different ecosystem types from mountains to the sea, from rural to urban systems, as well more social aspects such as environmental perception. The MAB governing body, the International Co-ordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, usually referred to as the MAB Council or ICC, consists of 34 Member States elected by UNESCO's biennial General Conference. In between meetings, the authority of the ICC is delegated to its Bureau, whose members are nominated from each of UNESCO's geopolitical regions.

MAB's work over the years has concentrated on the development of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).

The biosphere reserve concept was developed initially in 1974 and was substantially revised in 1995 with the adoption by the UNESCO General Conference of the Statutory Framework and the Seville Strategy for Biosphere Reserves. Today, with more than 480 sites in over 100 countries, the WNBR provides context-specific opportunities to combine scientific knowledge and governance modalities to:

• Reduce biodiversity loss
• Improve livelihoods
• Enhance social, economic and cultural conditions for environmental sustainability
• Thus contributing to the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular MDG 7 on environmental sustainability

Biosphere reserves can also serve as learning and demonstration sites in the framework of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD).

Approach (Extract from UNESCO's Draft Programme 2006-2007)
"The General Conference authorizes the Director-General […] to implement the corresponding plan of action in the ecological sciences […], in order to:

• (i) Contribute to minimizing biodiversity loss through the use of ecological and biodiversity sciences in policy- and decision-making;
• (ii) Promote environmental sustainability through the World Network of Biosphere Reserves;
• (iii) Enhance the linkages between cultural and biological diversity, jointly with [Major Programme IV- Culture]"

Main line of action 1: Minimizing biodiversity loss through research and capacity-building for ecosystem management
Focus will be on a broad-based interdisciplinary research agenda with respect to the ecological, social and economic dimensions of biodiversity loss and its reduction. Capacity-building will be key […], including the development of a network of learning centres for integrated ecosystem management and through South-South cooperation. In Africa, the regional postgraduate school in Kinshasa, Congo DR, will serve as the principal node for this network.
Efforts will be made to promote interdisciplinary and multisectoral approaches to sustainable development in higher education and in-service training institutions, particularly in post-conflict countries.
State-of-the-art synthesis will be undertaken and new research initiatives on arid lands and humid tropics will be launched, capping 50 years (2006) of UNESCO's involvement in these areas.

• Research, training and education related to biodiversity loss and global assessments
• Urban systems, carbon economies and ecosystem management for biodiversity use
• Research, training and ecosystem management of drylands and mountains
• Research and ecosystem management in coastal areas and humid tropics and South-South cooperation for capacity-building

Main line of action 2: Biosphere reserves - promoting environmental sustainability
Emphasis will be placed on linkages between biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development in specific biosphere reserve contexts. The WNBR and its regional networks will be used as vehicles for knowledge-sharing and exchange of experience, research and monitoring, education and training, and testing of participatory decision-making, thereby contributing to the emergence of "quality economies" and to conflict prevention.

• Establishing new biosphere reserves and transboundary biosphere reserves
• Strengthening of knowledge base on environmental sustainability - including the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP), and the Biosphere Reserve Integrated Monitoring (BRIM) programme
• Using biosphere reserves as platform for conflict prevention
• Statutory meetings and MAB Young Scientists Award Scheme
• Supporting regional and thematic MAB networks

Main line of action 3: Enhancing linkages between cultural and biological diversity
Cultural landscapes and sacred sites will receive special attention and allow to learn about biological and cultural diversity interactions. Special attention will be given to biosphere reserves and World Heritage sites.

• Establishing a knowledge base on cultural practices fostering local-level sustainable use of biodiversity in biosphere reserves
• Local and indigenous knowledge as a basis for equitable biodiversity governance in Small Island Developing States
• Raising awareness of the role of sacred natural sites, cultural landscapes and intangible heritage in ecosystem management and sustainable use of biodiversity

Read complete official strategies and approaches in UNESCO's Draft Programme 2006-2007 (PDF document)