The MAB Programme has been granting awards of up to $5,000 each since 1989 to encourage young researchers to undertake work on ecosystems, natural resources and biodiversity.

The people and projects recognized in 2015 are:

Victoria Gonzalez Carman (Argentina): Understanding the human dimensions of bycatch of large marine vertebrates in a small-scale fishery of Argentina;

Richmond Ametefe (Ghana): Impacts of socio-economic activities of communities on water resource management in the Songor Biosphere Reserve.

Angela Mwatujobe (United Republic of Tanzaniea): Contribution of local communities to the conservation of biosphere reserves.

Sameh Chaabani (Tunisia): Pine Forest under alert in the MAB Chaambi National Park in Tunisia : Tree-level impact assessment of long-term climate change and recent social unrest;

Vitaliy Turych (Ukraine): Forest ecosystems of the Ukrainian part of the West Polesie Transboundary Biosphere Reserve and global climate change;

The Nguyen Duc (Viet Nam): Outbreak of the coral eating snails (Drupella sp) in the Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve–habitat utilization and prey selection.

The $6,000 Michel Batisse Michel Batisse Award for a case study concerning the management of a biosphere reserve is attributed to Bandi Namkhai, Director of the Khustain Nuruu Biosphere Reserve in Mongolia, for his study of Khustain Nuruu.

Biosphere reserves are areas that promote innovative solutions to issues of conservation, ecology and sustainable development recognized as such by UNESCO’s MAB Programme. There are currently 651 MAB biosphere reserves in 120 countries.

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Media Contact: Agnès Bardon, UNESCO Press Service, +33 (0)1 45 68 17 64, a.bardon(at)unesco.org