The Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program aimed at establishing a scientific basis for improving the relationship between people and their environment. The program combines natural and social sciences to enhance human livelihoods and safeguard natural and human-managed ecosystems. In this way, it promotes innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate, as well as sustainable.
Its World Network of Biosphere Reserves is a dynamic and interactive network of sites of excellence that foster harmony between people and nature for sustainable development through participatory dialogue, knowledge sharing, poverty reduction and improvement of human well-being, respect for cultural values, and society’s ability to cope with change.
About the Program
The program combines natural and social sciences to improve people’s livelihoods and safeguard natural and human-managed ecosystems. In this way, it promotes innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate, as well as sustainable.
By focusing on globally recognized sites in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the MAB Program seeks to:
- Identify and assess changes in the biosphere.
- Study the relationships between ecosystems and socioeconomic processes.
- Ensure basic human well-being and a suitable living environment.
- Promote the exchange and transmission of knowledge.
MAB Strategy and Action Plan 2015-2025
To understand and address the major challenges facing our world—poverty, climate change, water and food security, loss of biological and cultural diversity, rapid urbanization, and desertification—the Man and the Biosphere Programme strategically addresses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) and its regional and thematic networks.
To this end, it carries out sustainable development actions in biosphere reserves, which it conducts in collaboration with all sectors of society to ensure the well-being of people and their environment.
In 2015, Member States adopted 4 strategic objectives for the MAB Program. A year later, an action plan was adopted to achieve these objectives:
- Conserve biodiversity, restore and enhance ecosystem services, and promote sustainable use of natural resources.
- Build sustainable, healthy, and equitable economies, societies, and human settlements in harmony with the biosphere.
- Promote science on biodiversity and sustainability, education for sustainable development (ESD), and capacity building.
- Empower people to mitigate and adapt to climate change and other aspects of global environmental change.
Preparation of the 2025-2035 Strategy
In 2025, the upcoming 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves will develop the new MAB Strategy 2025-2035 in Hangzhou, China. The new roadmap will rethink the role and scope of the MAB Program in the context of the conclusion of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This roadmap will be accompanied by an action plan that will guide the execution of the program.