About the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme

The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme is UNESCO’s leading initiative in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development by enhancing the relationship between people and their environments.

Last update:12 December 2023

It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems, thus promoting innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.

By focusing on sites internationally recognized within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the MAB Programme strives to:

Identify and assess the changes in the biosphere

resulting from human and natural activities and the effects of these changes on humans and the environment, in particular in the context of climate change

Study the interrelationships between ecosystems and socio-economic processes

amid loss of biological & cultural diversity that hinders ecosystems provision of services for human wellbeing

Ensure basic human welfare and a liveable environment

in the context of rapid urbanization and energy consumption as drivers of environmental change

Promote the exchange and transfer of knowledge

on environmental problems and solutions, and to foster environmental education for sustainable development

The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme has laid the scientific foundations fora new harmony between humans and their environment – one that reconciles conservation and development, and teaches us how to live with the living world, in the living world, rather than at its expense.

Audrey AzoulayUNESCO Director-General

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves designated in 2023

next previous

Exporing the riverine ecosystem in Drömling Biosphere Reserve, Germany

Tree nursery in the Korup Rainforest Biosphere Reserve, Cameroon

Landscape of the Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park, a World Heritage property within the Protected Area Complex of Northeast Central African Republic Biosphere Reserve

Mangrove in Tribugá-Cupica-Baudó Biosphere Reserve, Colombia

Hydrosaurus celebensis, Bantimurung Bulusaraung - Ma'Rupanne Biosphere Reserve, Indonesia

Mount Elgon Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (Kenya, Uganda) has an exceptional diversity of ecosystems as well as plant and animal species

UNESCO/ Onon-Balj Biosphere Reserve

The Chitral area has spectacular landscapes with 543 glaciers and 31 mountain ranges. Chitral Bashkar Garmchashma Biosphere Reserve, Pakistan.

Gallies Biosphere Reserve, Pakistan

Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), Bicentenario - Ayacucho Biosphere Reserve, Peru

Timeline of MAB's history

For more than half a century, UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere programme has led a global quest to rethink the ties between people and planet.

Discover

Beach shoreline in Maio Biosphere Reserve, Cabo Verde, with people swimming on a turquoise sea and boats lined up by the sand.

Direção Nacional do Ambiente, Cabo Verde

Contacts

Secretariat

Man and the Biosphere Programme
UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy
F-75352 Paris 07 SP
France
E-mail: mab@unesco.org

Office of the Director

António

Abreu

Director of the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, Secretary of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme

Sima

Taheri-Gauter

Assistant to the Division Director, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences

Meriem Bouamrane
Chief of the Section on MAB Research and Policy: Ecology and Biodiversity

Patricia Rame
Office assistant

Maria Rosa Cardenas Tomazic
Associate programme specialist

Barbara Avila
Project officer

Tiina Greggila-jouini
Programme assistant

Maximilien Guèze
Associate project officer

Hélène Le Brun
Associate project officer

Ana Catarina Luz
Associate project officer

Hans Thulstrup
Chief of the Section

Amandine Callens
Programme assistant

Manoel Giffoni Da Silveira Netto
Associate project officer

Marie Prchalova
Programme specialist

Philippe Pypaert
Programme specialist

Yang Bo Kim
Expert

Yueyu Zou
Programme specialist

Regional officers

The UNESCO Regional Officers are responsible for the implementation of the MAB Programme of UNESCO at the regional level. Regional Officers are posted in the field and serve as focal points for all issues relating to the Programme, both at regional and national levels.

Strategy and Framework

MAB Strategy

UNESCO

2017

In 2025, the upcoming 5^th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves will develop the new 2025-2035 MAB Strategy in Hangzhou, China. The new roadmap will re-visit the role and the scope of MAB Programme 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, guiding the programme’s implementation.

Statutory Framework

UNESCO

2020

This Statutory Framework sets out the conditions for the functioning of biosphere reserves and the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It was adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in November 1995.

Related items

This article is related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.