The Strategy

The following Strategy provides recommendations for developing effective biosphere reserves and for setting out the conditions for the appropriate functioning of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It does not repeat the general principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity nor Agenda 21, but instead identifies the specific role of biosphere reserves in developing a new vision of the relationship between conservation and development. Thus, the document is deliberately focused on a few priorities.

The Strategy suggests the level (international, national, individual biosphere reserve) at which each recommendation will be most effective. However, given the large variety of different national and local management situations, these recommended levels of actions should be seen merely as guidelines, and adapted to fit the situation at hand. Especially note that the "national" level should be interpreted to include other governmental levels higher than the individual reserve (e.g., provincial, state, county, etc.). In some countries, national or local NGOs may also be appropriate substitutes for this level. Similarly, the "international" level often includes regional and inter-regional activities.

The Strategy also includes recommended Implementation Indicators, i.e. a check-list of actions that will enable all involved to follow and evaluate the implementation of the Strategy. Criteria used in developing the Indicators were: availability (can the information be gathered relatively easily), simplicity (are the data unambiguous), and usefulness (will the information be useful to reserve managers, National Committees, and/or the network at large). One role of the Implementation Indicators is to assemble a database of successful implementation mechanisms and to exchange this information among all members of the network.

GOAL I: Use Biosphere Reserves to conserve natural and cultural diversity

OBJECTIVE I.1: Improve the coverage of natural and cultural biodiversity by means of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Promote biosphere reserves as means of implementing the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
2. Promote a comprehensive approach to biogeographical classification that takes into account such ideas as vulnerability analysis, in order to develop a system encompassing socio-ecological factors.

Recommended at the national level:

3. Prepare a biogeographical analysis of the country as a basis, inter alia, for assessing coverage of the World Biosphere Reserve Network.
4. In light of the analysis, and taking into account existing protected areas, establish, strengthen or extend biosphere reserves as necessary, giving special attention to fragmented habitats, threatened ecosystems, and fragile and vulnerable environments, both natural and cultural.

OBJECTIVE I.2: Integrate biosphere reserves into conservation planning.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Encourage the establishment of trans-boundary biosphere reserves as a means of dealing with the conservation of organisms, ecosystems, and genetic resources that cross national boundaries.

Recommended at the national level:

2. Integrate biosphere reserves in strategies for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, in plans for protected areas, and in the national biodiversity strategies and action plans provided for in Article 6 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
3. When applicable, include projects to strengthen and develop biosphere reserves in programmes to be initiated and funded under the Convention on Biological Diversity and other multilateral conventions.
4. Link biosphere reserves with each other, and with other protected areas, through green corridors and in other ways that enhance biodiversity conservation, and ensure that these links are maintained.
5. Use biosphere reserves for in situ conservation of genetic resources, including wild relatives of cultivated and domesticated species, and consider using the reserves as rehabilitation/re-introduction sites, and link them as appropriate with ex situ conservation and use programmes.

GOAL II: Utilize Biosphere Reserves as models of  land management and of approaches to sustainable development

OBJECTIVE II.1: Secure the support and involvement of local people.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Prepare guidelines for key aspects of biosphere reserve management, including the resolution of conflicts, provision of local benefits, and involvement of stakeholders in decision-making and in responsibility for management.

Recommended at the national level:

2. Incorporate biosphere reserves into plans for implementing the sustainable use goals of Agenda 21 and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
3. Establish, strengthen or extend biosphere reserves to include areas where traditional life styles and indigenous uses of biodiversity are practiced (including sacred sites), and/or where there are critical interactions between people and their environment (e.g., peri-urban areas, degraded rural areas, coastal areas, freshwater environments and wetlands).
4. Identify and promote the establishment of activities compatible with the goals of conservation through the transfer of appropriate technologies which include traditional knowledge and which promote sustainable development in the buffer and transition zones.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

5. Survey the interests of the various stakeholders and fully involve them in planning and decision-making regarding the management and use of the reserve.
6. Identify and address factors that lead to environmental degradation and unsustainable use of biological resources.
7. Evaluate the natural products and services of the reserve and use these evaluations to promote environmentally sound and economically sustainable income opportunities for local people.
8. Develop incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, and develop alternative means of livelihood for local populations when existing activities are limited or prohibited within the biosphere reserve.
9. Ensure that the benefits derived from the use of natural resources are equitably shared with the stakeholders, by such means as sharing the entrance fees, sale of natural products or handicrafts, use of local construction techniques and labour, and development of sustainable activities (e.g., agriculture, forestry, etc.).

OBJECTIVE II.2: Ensure better harmonization and interaction among the different biosphere reserve zones.

Recommended at the national level:

1. Ensure that each biosphere reserve has an effective management policy or plan and an appropriate authority or mechanism to implement it.
2. Develop means of identifying incompatibilities between the conservation and sustainable use functions of biosphere reserves and take measures to ensure that an appropriate balance between the functions is maintained.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

3. Develop and establish institutional mechanisms to manage, coordinate and integrate the biosphere reserves programmes and activities.
4. Establish a local consultative framework in which the reserve's economic and social stakeholders are represented, including the full range of interests (e.g., agriculture, forestry, hunting and extracting, water and energy supply, fisheries, tourism, recreation, research).

OBJECTIVE II.3: Integrate biosphere reserves into regional planning.

Recommended at the national level:

1. Include biosphere reserves in regional development policies and in regional land-use planning projects.
2. Encourage the major land-use sectors near each biosphere reserve to adopt practices favouring sustainable land use.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

3. Organise forums and set up demonstration sites for the examination of socio-economic and environmental problems of the region and for the sustainable utilization of biological resources important to the region.

GOAL III: Use Biosphere Reserves for research, monitoring, education, and training

OBJECTIVE III.1: Improve knowledge of the interactions between humans and the biosphere.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Use the World Biosphere Reserve Network to conduct comparative environmental and socio-economic research, including long-term research that will require decades to complete.
2. Use the World Biosphere Reserve Network for international research programmes that deal with topics such as biological diversity, desertification, water cycles, ethnobiology, and global change.
3. Use the World Biosphere Reserve Network for cooperative research programs at the regional and inter-regional levels, such as those existing for the Southern Hemisphere, East Asia and Latin America.
4. Encourage the development of innovative, interdisciplinary research tools for biosphere reserves, including flexible modelling systems for integrating social, economic and ecological data.
5. Develop a clearing house for research tools and methodologies in biosphere reserves.
6. Encourage interactions between the World Biosphere Reserve Network and other research and education networks, and facilitate the use of the biosphere reserves for collaborative research projects of consortia of universities and other institutions of higher learning and research, in the private as well as public sector, and at non-governmental as well as governmental levels.

Recommended at the national level:

7. Integrate biosphere reserves with national and regional scientific research programmes, and link these research activities to national and regional policies on conservation and sustainable development.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

8. Use biosphere reserves for basic and applied research, particularly projects with a focus on local issues, interdisciplinary projects incorporating both the natural and the social sciences, and projects involving the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems, the conservation of soils and water and the sustainable use of natural resources.
9. Develop a functional system of data management for rational use of research and monitoring results in the management of the biosphere reserve.

OBJECTIVE III.2: Improve monitoring activities.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Use the World Biosphere Reserve Network, at the international, regional, national and local levels, as priority long-term monitoring sites for international programs focused on topics such as terrestrial and marine observing systems, global change, biodiversity, and forest health.
2. Encourage the adoption of standardized protocols for meta-data concerning the description of flora and fauna, to facilitate the interchange, accessibility and utilization of scientific information generated in biosphere reserves.

Recommended at the national level:

3. Encourage the participation of biosphere reserves in national programmes of ecological and environmental monitoring and development of linkages between biosphere reserves and other monitoring sites and networks.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

4. Use the reserve for making inventories of fauna and flora, collecting ecological and socio-economic data, making meteorological and hydrological observations, studying the effects of pollution, etc., for scientific purposes and as the basis for sound site management.
5. Use the reserve as an experimental area for the development and testing of methods and approaches for the evaluation and monitoring of biodiversity, sustainability and quality of life of its inhabitants.
6. Use the reserve for developing indicators of sustainability (in ecological, economic, social and institutional terms) for the different productive activities carried out within the buffer zones and transition areas.
7. Develop a functional system of data management for rational use of research and monitoring results in the management of the biosphere reserve.

OBJECTIVE III.3: Improve education, public awareness, and involvement.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Facilitate exchange of experience and information between biosphere reserves, with a view to strengthening the involvement of volunteers and local people in biosphere reserve activities.
2. Promote the development of communication systems for diffusing information on biosphere reserves and on experiences at the field level.

Recommended at the national level:

3. Include information on conservation and sustainable use, as practiced in biosphere reserves, in school programmes and teaching manuals, and in media efforts.
4. Encourage participation of biosphere reserves in international networks and programmes, to promote cross-cutting linkages in education and public awareness.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

5. Encourage involvement of local communities, school children and other stakeholders in education and training programs and in research and monitoring activities within biosphere reserves.
6. Produce visitors' information about the reserve, its importance for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, its socio-cultural aspects, and its recreational and educational programs and resources.
7. Promote the development of ecology field educational centers within individual reserves, as facilities for contributing to the education of schoolchildren and other groups.

OBJECTIVE III.4: Improve training for specialists and managers.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Utilize the World Biosphere Reserve Network to support and encourage international training opportunities and programmes.
2. Identify representative biosphere reserves to serve as regional training centers.

Recommended at the national level:

3. Define the training needed by biosphere reserve managers in the 21st century and develop model training programmes on such topics as how to design and implement inventory and monitoring programmes in biosphere reserves, how to analyze and study socio-cultural conditions, how to solve conflicts, and how to manage resources cooperatively in an ecosystem or landscape context.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

4. Use the reserve for on-site training and for national, regional and local seminars.
5. Encourage appropriate training and employment of local people and other stakeholders to allow their full participation in inventory, monitoring and research in programmes in biosphere reserves.
6. Encourage training programmes for local communities and other local agents (such as decision makers, local leaders and agents working in production, technology transfer, and community development programmes) in order to allow their full participation in the planning, management and monitoring processes of biosphere reserves.

GOAL IV: Implement the Biosphere Reserve Concept

OBJECTIVE IV.1: Integrate the functions of biosphere reserves.

Recommended at the international level:

1. Identify and publicize demonstration (model or illustrative examples of) biosphere reserves, whose experiences will be beneficial to others, at the national, regional and international levels.
2. Give guidance/advice on the elaboration and periodic review of strategies and national action plans for biosphere reserves.
3. Organize forums and other information exchange mechanisms for biosphere reserve managers.
4. Prepare and disseminate information on how to develop management plans or policies for biosphere reserves.
5. Prepare guidance on management issues at biosphere reserve sites, including, inter alia, methods to ensure local participation, case studies of various management options, and techniques of conflict resolution.

Recommended at the national level:

6. Ensure that each biosphere reserve has an effective management policy or plan and an appropriate authority or mechanism to implement it.
7. Encourage private-sector initiatives to establish and maintain environmentally and socially sustainable activities in appropriate zones of biosphere reserves and in surrounding areas, in order to stimulate community development.
8. Develop and periodically review strategies and national action plans for biosphere reserves; these strategies should strive for complementarity and added value of biosphere reserves with respect to other national instruments for conservation.
9. Organize forums and other information exchange mechanisms for biosphere reserve managers.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

10. Identify and map the different zones of biosphere reserves and define their respective status.
11. Prepare, implement and monitor an overall management plan or policy that includes all of the zones of biosphere reserves.
12. Where necessary, in order to preserve the core area, re-plan the buffer and transition zones according to sustainable development criteria.
13. Define and establish institutional mechanisms to manage, coordinate and integrate the reserve's programmes and activities.
14. Ensure that the local community participate in planning and management of biosphere reserves.
15. Encourage private sector initiatives to establish and maintain environmentally and socially sustainable activities in the reserve and surrounding areas.

OBJECTIVE IV.2: Strengthen the World Biosphere Reserve Network

Recommended at the international level:

1. Facilitate provision of adequate resources for implementation of the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
2. Facilitate the periodic review by each country of its biosphere reserves, as required in the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and assist countries in taking measures to make their biosphere reserves functional.
3. Support the functioning of the Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves and fully consider and utilize its recommendations and guidance.
4. Lead the development of communication among biosphere reserves, taking into account their communication and technical capabilities, and strengthen existing and planned regional or thematic networks.
5. Develop creative connections and partnerships with other networks of similar managed areas, and with international governmental and non-governmental organizations with goals congruent with those of biosphere reserves.
6. Promote and facilitate twinning between biosphere reserve sites and foster trans-boundary reserves.
7. Give biosphere reserves more visibility by disseminating information materials, developing communication policies, and highlighting their roles as members of the World Biosphere Reserve Network.
8. Wherever possible, advocate the inclusion of biosphere reserves in projects financed by bilateral and multilateral aid organizations
9. Mobilize private funds, from businesses, NGOs and foundations, for the benefit of biosphere reserves.
10. Develop standards and methodologies for collecting and exchanging various types of data, and assist their application across the network of biosphere reserves.
11. Monitor, assess and follow up on the implementation of the Seville Strategy, utilizing the Implementation Indicators, and analyze the factors that aid in attainment of the indicators, as well as those that hinder such attainment.

Recommended at the national level:

12. Facilitate provision of adequate resources for implementation of the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
13. Develop a national-level mechanism to advise and coordinate the biosphere reserves; and fully consider and utilize its recommendations and guidance.
14. Prepare an evaluation of the status and operations of each of the country's biosphere reserves, as required in the Statutory Framework, and provide appropriate resources to address any deficiencies.
15. Develop creative connections and partnerships with other networks of similar managed areas and with international governmental and non-governmental organizations with goals congruent with those of the biosphere reserves.
16. Seek opportunities for twinning between biosphere reserve and establish trans-boundary biosphere reserves, where appropriate.
17. Give biosphere reserves more visibility by disseminating information materials, developing communication policies, and highlighting their roles as members of the Network.
18. Include biosphere reserves in proposals for financing from international and bilateral funding mechanisms, including the Global Environment Facility.
19. Mobilize private funds, from businesses, NGOs and foundations, for the benefit of biosphere reserves.
20. Monitor, assess and follow up on the implementation of the Seville Strategy, utilizing the Implementation Indicators, and analyze the factors that aid in attainment of the indicators, as well as those that hinder such attainment.

Recommended at the individual reserve level:

21. Give biosphere reserves more visibility by disseminating information materials, developing communication policies, and highlighting their roles as members of the Network.
22. Mobilize private funds, from businesses, NGOs and foundations, for the benefit of biosphere reserves.
23. Monitor, assess and follow up on the implementation of the Seville Strategy, utilizing the Implementation Indicators, and analyze the factors that aid in attainment of the indicators, as well as those that hinder such attainment of Biosphere Reserves, and assist countries in taking measures to make their biosphere reserves functional.