The GoBi Project in detail

Biosphere reserves, which currently amount to about 531 sites in 105 countries (April 2008), are areas of terrestrial and coastal/marine ecosystems that are internationally recognised under UNESCO`s Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme. Biosphere reserves are to be experimental places and vanguards for sustainable development, as encapsulated in the Seville Strategy (1995) and reiterated in the Seville +5 Declaration (2000). This ambitious aim is, however, difficult to realise as many biosphere reserves neither have the capacity nor the resources to meet this global mandate. The implementation of the strategy thus still leaves much room for improvement.

In 2008 the 3rd World Congress of Biosphere Reserves, which gathered over 800 participants from 105 countries, issued the Madrid Declaration and the Madrid Action Plan to revise and refine the Seville Strategy and to adapt it to ongoing global change and associated international conservation and development targets.

The Madrid Declaration recommends building effective partnerships through cooperation among all governmental levels, the private sector, the media, civil society organisations, indigenous and local communities, research and education centres among other institutions. It recommends the creation of innovative mechanisms for the sustainable funding of biosphere reserves, and urges the development of cooperation between the MAB Programme and UNESCO's other intergovernmental scientific programmes.

The associated Madrid Action Plan clarifies key actions to be targeted within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) and the MAB as well as related institutions.

Four main action areas have been identified: 1) cooperation, management and communication; 2) zonation to link functions to space; 3) science and capacity enhancement; and 4) partnerships. These four main areas of action include a total of 31 targets and 65 actions. Biosphere reserves are to be envisaged as places to elaborate and demonstrate effective responses to three key challenges that are to be addressed during the period 2008-2013:

  • Accelerated loss of biological and cultural diversity and its associated unexpected impacts on the ability of ecosystems to provide services critical for human well-being.
  • Accelerated climate change and its consequences for societies and ecosystems.
  • Rapid urbanisation as a driver of environmental change.

Moreover, the WNBR should play a central role in the search and testing of potential solutions to the challenges of global change.

The conservation success of biosphere reserves and other protected areas depends on the appropriateness of their management systems and broader governance settings, such as their political and legal system, resource-use patterns and the degree of involvement of communities living within biosphere reserves or nearby.

The interdisciplinary research group Governance of Biodiversity (GoBi) develops and tests a set of relevant indicators to find out and measure which particular factors affect in what way the management success or failure of biosphere reserves.

Our research group aims at remedying the current lack of studies on the effectiveness of biosphere reserve management and of governance approaches in achieving conservation and development objectives. We aim to provide valid results and clearly articulated conclusions for both biosphere reserve coordinators and practitioners as well as the scientific community. Our theoretical framework encompasses conservation biology, social psychology and rural and development sociology including research on common property governance, while our methodology integrates ecological and socio-economic data with empirical findings. We combine quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches including a comprehensive literature review, a qualitative meta-analysis and a quantitative survey (all with a global focus). Several detailed case studies in biosphere reserves in tropical and subtropical countries are conducted as well as in-depth interviews with experts from all over the world.

Our research is subdivided into several key foci:

Our detailed case studies in different regional biodiversity hotspots worldwide allow for comparative analyses. (see "case study globe").

We are currently extending the scope of our research to foster its international as well as inter- and transdisciplinary applicability.

In order to support the further development of UNESCO's WNBR the GoBi Project is establishing the Global Centre for Biosphere Reserve Advancement (C-BRA). C-BRA will link scientists and practitioners, who are involved in the management of UNESCO biosphere reserves around the world, to promote biosphere reserves as a tool for sustainable territorial development. This will be achieved through a number of activities, including:

  • providing an innovative communication platform for scientific research and knowledge exchange to support and enhance management capacities (see communication platform);
  • offering advice to decision makers and practitioners, and,
  • furthering international cooperation and networking.

For further information please see biosphere-research.org