Biosphere Reserves at the heart of Lima meeting, 14 to 19 March in Lima
New Biosphere Reserves will be designated during the forthcoming session of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme which will meet in Lima on 18 and 19 March, following the 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves, which will also take place in the capital of Peru from 14 to 17 March.
The Council will examine 32 candidacies, both new proposals and extensions to existing Biosphere Reserves, from 23 countries: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Spain, Tanzania and the United Kingdom.
The 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves will bring together more than 1,000 experts who will determine a ten-year roadmap for UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme. The experts will seek to reinforce the management of biosphere reserves, which seek to reconcile the protection of biodiversity with its sustainable use in cooperation with local populations.
Biosphere reserve managers, representatives of governments, the world of science, the private sector, as well as the UN and nongovernmental organizations will exchange views and experiences of biosphere reserves. The meeting will be concluded with the adoption of a Lima Declaration and a 2016-2025 Plan of Action.
Organized by UNESCO in cooperation with Peru’s Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) and its National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP), the World Congress will be held outside Europe for the 1st time. Previous World Congresses were hosted by Belarus and Spain (Minsk in 1984, Seville in 1985 and Madrid in 2008).
The World Network of Biosphere Reserves presently numbers 651 sites in 120 countries. It links sites as diverse as Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia, the Mare aux Hippopotames in Burkina Faso, Huascarán in Peru, the Parc national des Cévennes in France, and the transboundary El Trifinio, reserve of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The network is home to a population of nearly 160 million people.
The Man and the Biosphere Programme was created by UNESCO in the early 1970s as an intergovernmental scientific endeavour to improve relations between people around the world and their natural environment.
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More about the 4th World Congress
The event will be held at the Gran Centro de Convenciones de Lima, avenida La Arqueología 161 - San Borja.
Journalistes wishing to attend are required to request accreditation from:
Claudia Zevallos Huaman, SERNANP, congresoreservabiosfera(at)sernanp.gob.pe
Media contacts: Lucía Iglesias Kuntz, UNESCO, l.iglesias(at)unesco.org Andrea Harman, UNESCO, a.harman(at)unesco.org
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