UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program ( MAB) :  

​​» MAB or Man Biosphere Reserve Program is a major effort in biodiversity conservation, launched in 1971.

» It is an inter-governmental scientific program to establish a scientific basis for improving relationships between people and their environments. ( means finding ways to make your relationship with the environment better based on scientific evidence)

» MAB combines natural and social sciences, economics and education to improve human livelihood and the equitable sharing of benefits.

­ Implementation of this  program

» To implement its inter-disciplinary work on the ground, MAB relies on the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) and partnership for knowledge sharing, research and monitoring, education and training, and participatory decision-making.

­ Characteristics

» The characteristics feature of BR are

1. People are an integral component

2. Remain under national jurisdiction but share their experience and ideas nationally, regionally and internationally within the WNBR.

3 Achieve three inter-connected functions: Conservation, development and logistic support

Zonation Scheme

Multi-stakeholder approach with particular emphasis on the involvement of local

communities in management.

Integrating cultural and biological diversity, especially the role of traditional knowledge

in ecosystem management.

Fostering dialogue for conflict resolution in natural resource use.

­ Details about the Zonation Scheme

» While countries maintain flexibility at the national levels about the definition of zones,

the zonation needs to ensure that biosphere reserves effectively combine conservation, sustainable use of resources, and knowledge generation through integrated zonation and collaborative management

Each BR includes three zones: (Core, Buffer and Transition)

i. The Core Zone:

Generally, the strict nature reserves and wilderness portions are designated as core areas in a biosphere reserve ( means designated as the most protected parts of the reserve )

 It should be kept undisturbed (or minimally disturbed).

 Non-destructive research and low-impact uses (e.g. education) are allowed.

 Key functions of Core Area:

• Conservation function

• Range of ecosystem services:

• Employment opportunities can also complement conservation goals (environmental education, research, environmental rehabilitation and conservation measures, recreation and eco-tourism).

The Buffer Zone : 

The Buffer zone usually surrounds or adjoins the core area. It is used for cooperative activities compatible with sound ecological practices including, environmental education, recreation, ecotourism, and applied and basic research. ( it means the buffer zone around a core area of a biosphere is used for activities such as education, research, ecotourism etc).

They can also have important connectivity functions in a larger spatial context as they connect biodiversity components within the core areas with those transition areas. Human activities, if natural within BR, are likely to be permitted to continue if these don’t affect ecological diversity.

Transition Zone:

It is the Outermost part of the biosphere reserve

it has a central function in sustainable development which may contain a variety

of agricultural activities, settlements, and other uses and in which local communities, management agencies, scientists and non-governmental organizations, cultural groups, economic interests, and other stakeholders work together to manage and sustainably develop the area’s resources.Usually not delimited

Designation of reserve: International Coordination Council (ICC) of the MAB program,

UNESCO takes the final decision on the nomination for designation.

­ Relation between Biosphere Reserves and other protected areas (NP, WLS etc)

1. BRs don’t replace other PAs but it further strengthens the protected area network.

2. Existing PAs can become part of BR without any change in their legal status.

3 Inclusion of such PA in BR will enhance their national value

4 It doesn’t mean the BR is to be established only around National Parks and WLS.

5 Key differences

» Conservation of overall biodiversity rather than some specific flagship species.

Increases broad-basing of stakeholders, especially local people’s participation and their training, compared to the features of the scheme on WLS and NPs.

» BRs are internationally recognized within the framework of UNESCO’s MAB programme, after receiving consent from the participating countries.

­ Biosphere Reserves in India

How many Biosphere Reserves are in India?

• There are 18 biosphere reserves in India:
  • Cold Desert, Himachal Pradesh
  • Nanda Devi, Uttrakhand
  • Khangchendzonga, Sikkim
  • Dehang-Debang, Arunachal Pradesh
  • Manas, Assam
  • Dibru-Saikhowa, Assam
  • Nokrek, Meghalaya
  • Panna, Madhya Pradesh
  • Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh
  • Achanakmar-Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh
  • Kachchh, Gujarat (Largest Area)
  • Similipal, Odisha
  • Sundarban, West Bengal
  • Seshachalam, Andhra Pradesh
  • Agasthyamala, Karnataka-Tamil Nadu-Kerala
  • Nilgiri, Tamil Nadu-Kerala (First to be Included)
  • Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu
  • Great Nicobar, Andaman & Nicobar Island

The Indian government has established 18 biosphere reserves in India, (categories roughly corresponding to IUCN Category 5 protected areas).

­ A scheme called Biosphere Reserve has been implemented by GoI since 1986, in which financial assistance is given to states for maintenance, improvement and development of certain items. (60:40 general states, 90:10 – Northeastern and 3 Himalayan states)

­ The Indian National Man and Biosphere Committee constituted by the Central govt identifies new sites, advises on policies and programmes, lays down guidelines, and reviews progress and guidelines in the light of evaluation studies and feedback.

­ Management of the biosphere reserves is the responsibility of the concerned state/UT with necessary financing assistance, guidelines for management and technical expertise provided by the central government.

­ World Network of Biosphere reserves

» 12 of the 18 biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on

the UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme list.

	Year	Name	Location	State	Type	Key fauna	Area (km2)
1	1986	Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve	Part of Waynad, Nagarhole, Bandipur and Mudumalai, Nilambur, Silent Valley	Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala	Western Ghats	Nilgiri tahr, tiger, lion-tailed macaque	5520
2	1988	Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve	Parts of Chamoli District, Pithoragarh District & Bageshwar District	Uttarakhand	Western Himalayas	Snow leopard, Himalayan black bear	5860
3	1988	Nokrek	In West Garo Hills	Meghalaya	Eastern hills	Red panda	820.00
4	1989	Gulf of Mannar	Part of the delta of Ganges and Brahmaputra river system	Tamil Nadu	Coasts	Dugong	10500
5	1989	Sundarbans	Part of the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river system	West Bengal	Gangetic Delta	Royal Bengal tiger	9630
6	1989	Manas	Part of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup and Darrang Districts	Assam	Eastern Hills	Asiatic elephant, tiger, Assam roofed turtle, hispid hare, golden langur, pygmy hog	2837
7	1989	Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve	Southernmost of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Islands	Saltwater crocodile	885
8	1994	Simlipal	Part of Mayurbhanj district	Odisha	Deccan Peninsula	Gaur, royal Bengal tiger, Asian elephant	4374
9	1998	Dihang-Dibang	Part of Siang and Dibang Valley	Arunachal Pradesh	Eastern Himalaya	Mishmi takin, musk deer	5112
10	1997	Dibru-Saikhowa	Part of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts	Assam	Eastern Hills	White-winged wood duck, water buffalo, black-breasted parrotbill, tiger, capped langur	765
11	1999	Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve	Parts of Betul District, Hoshangabad District and Chhindwara District	Madhya Pradesh	Semi-Arid	Giant squirrel, flying squirrel	4981.72
12	2000	Khangchendzonga National Park	Parts of Kangchenjunga	Sikkim	East Himalayas	Snow leopard, red panda	2620
13	2001	Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve	Neyyar, Peppara and Shenduruny Wildlife Sanctuary, Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve and their adjoining areas	Kerala, Tamil Nadu	Western Ghats	Nilgiri tahr, Asian elephant	3500.08
14	2005	Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve	Part of Annupur, Dindori and Bilaspur districts	Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh	Maikal Hills	Four-horned antelope, Indian wild dog, sarus crane, white-rumped vulture, sacred grove bush frog	3835
15	2008	Great Rann of Kutch	Part of Kutch, Morbi, Surendranagar and Patan districts; the largest biosphere reserve in India.	Gujarat	Desert	Indian wild ass	12454
16	2009	Cold Desert	Pin Valley National Park and surroundings; Chandratal and Sarchu & Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary	Himachal Pradesh	Western Himalayas	Snow leopard	7770
17	2010	Seshachalam Hills biosphere	Seshachalam Hill Ranges covering parts of Chittoor and Kadapa districts	Andhra Pradesh	Eastern Hills	Slender loris	4755.997[8]
18	2011[9]	Panna	Part of Panna and Chhattarpur districts in Madhya Pradesh	Madhya Pradesh	Moist deciduous forest	Bengal tiger, Chinkara, Nilgai, Sambhar sambar deer, and Sloth bear	2998.98[10]

1) PANNA:

­ In 2020, UNESCO included Panna National Park/ TR in the list of UNESCO’s World Network of BR. Thus, Panna becomes the third biosphere reserve in MP after Panchmarhi and Amarkantak. MoEF&CC had declared Panna a BR in 2011 itself.

­ Details of Panna

» It is a “Critical Tiger Habitat” in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is also home to the World Heritage Site of

Khajuraho.

» It is characterized by forest and marshy vegetation, with an abundance of rare medicinal plants.

» Ken River flows through the reserve and the Ken-Betwa project will also be located in it.

CRITICAL TIGER HABITATS:

– Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) refers to the areas within the tiger reserve that are considered to be the most important for the conservation of tigers.

– These areas are critical for:

i. Maintaining the breeding population and their prey species, as well as

ii. Providing connectivity to other habitats for the long-term survival of the tiger population.

– Certain areas under the Tiger Reserves are designated Critical Tiger Reserves under the Wildlife Protection Act, of 1972. These areas are given the highest level of protection under the law, and any development or human activity within these areas is strictly regulated to prevent any disturbance to

the tiger population.

– The designation of Critical Tiger Habitats has played a significant role in the conservation of tigers in India.

As of March 2023, there are 54 tiger reserves in India, and each reserve has its own Critical Tiger Habitat area.

KANCHENJUNGA 

­ About Kanchenjunga –

» It is one of the highest ecosystems in the world. It falls within the Himalayan global biodiversity

hotspots.

» The core zone alone has over 150 glaciers and 73 glacial lakes. Zemu Glacier is one of the famous ones.

» 86% of the core lies in the Alpine zone and the remaining portions are in the Himalayan Wet temperate

and sub-tropical moist deciduous forest.

» It is also home to many threatened species including musk deer, snow leopard, red panda, and

Himalayan Tahr.

» It is also home to many ethnic communities including Lepcha, Nepalese, and Bhutia.

­ Significance

The inclusion in the list will boost the unique ecosystem of Sikkim on two counts: Collaborative

research and tourism.

 It will boost the international research collaboration relating to flora and fauna and ecosystem

of KBR.

 Further, this will help Sikkim get more tourists. 

3) NILGIRI 

– The Nilgiri BR was the first BR in India established in the year 1986. It is located in the Western Ghats and includes 2 of the 10 biogeographical provinces of India.

– Location and Area: The reserve encompasses 5,520 km2, in the state of Tamil Nadu (2537.6 Km2), Karnataka (1527.4 Km2) and Kerala (1455 km2). It forms an almost complete ring around the Nilgiri Plateau.

– Protected Areas in Nilgiri BR include:

 Nagarhole NP

 Bandipur National Park

 Wayanad WLS

 Mudumalai WLS

 Sathyamangalam WLS

 Mukurthi NP

 Silent Valley NP

– Vegetation type of Nilgiri BR

Vegetational Types of the Nilgiri BR
S.No	Forest type	Nature of Vegetation	Area of occurrence
1	Moist evergreen	High-elevated evergreen with grasslands	In the narrow valleys of Silent Valley
2	Dense, moist and multi-storeyed forest with gigantic trees	Moist, deciduous	Nilambur and Palghat division
3	Thorn	Dense	South and western catchment area, Mukurthi National Park
4	Savannah woodland	Trees scattered amid woodland	Mudumalai and Bandipur
5	Sholas & grasslands	Northeast part of the Nilgiri district	South and western catchment area, Mukurthi national park

The People:

» A variety of human cultural diversity can be found in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

» Tribal groups like the Todas, Kotas, Irullas, Kurumbas, Paniyas, Adiyans, Edanadan Chettis, Cholanaickens,

Allar, Malayan, etc., are native to the reserve. Except for Cholanaickens who live exclusively on food gathering, hunting and fishing, all the other tribal groups are involved in their traditional occupation of agriculture.

4) 3RD NOV: INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR BR

– In the year 2022, at the 41st session of UNESCO’s general conference, it was decided that Nov 3 would be celebrated worldwide as the International Day of Biosphere Reserve.

– This international day by UNESCO aims to:

i. Conserve nature, protecting biodiversity and cultural diversity.

ii. Promote scientific research, underpinning development through research monitoring, education and training.

iii. Promote socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable economic development. iv. To foster the growth of local economies.

5) GLOBAL SITUATION OF BR UNDER MAB NETWORK

– As of Nov 2023, there are 738 properties in 134 countries, including 12 in India, four in Sri Lanka and three in Maldives

6) TRANSBOUNDARY BR

– A TBR is first and foremost a cooperation between established Biosphere reserves. UNESCO formally designates it as a TBR if certain conditions are met.

•  A political agreement between the states concerned.
• Common zoning that promotes the spatialization of conservation and development issues
• Identification of local and national partners and the establishment.
• TBR is an international recognition of a political will to cooperate in the conservation and sustainable use, through common management, of a shared ecosystem.
• IN 2021 UNESCO DECLARED THE WORLD’S FIRST 5 COUNTRY BR IN AMAZON OF EUROPE
• – In Sep 2021, UNESCO designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country BR
• – Unique Features:
• » It is Central Europe’s largest near natural free-flowing river system without any dams across five countries.
• » It is the first biosphere reserve in the world which is commonly shared and managed by five countries. With, 930,000 ha along 700 km of Mura, Drava and The Danube Rivers Europe’s largest river-protected area.
• Flagship project for international understanding and regional cooperation.
• – The reserve covers 700 km of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia.
• – It is home to floodplain forests, gravel, and sandbanks, river islands, oxbows, and meadows.
• – It is home to continental Europe’s highest density of breeding white-tailed eagles (more than 150 pairs), as well as endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters, beavers, and sturgeons.
• – It is also an important annual resting and feeding place for more than 250,000 migratory birds, according to WWF. Almost, 900,000 people live in the biosphere reserve.
• – The total area of the reserve – a million hectares – in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’, makes it the largest riverine protected area on the continent.
• – The new reserve represented an important contribution to the European Green Deal and contributed to the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy in the Mura-Drava-Danube region.
• » The strategy aims to revitalize 25,000 km of rivers and protect 30% of the EU’s land area by 2030.

What is Biosphere Conservation?

• A scheme called Biosphere Reserve has been implemented by the Government of India since 1986, in which financial assistance is given in a 90:10 ratio to the Northeastern Region States and three Himalayan states and the ratio of 60:40 to other states for maintenance, improvement, and development of certain items.
• The State Government prepares the Management Action Plan which is approved and monitored by the Central MAB Committee.

What can be the Way Forward?

• Land rights of tribals which depend on the forest resources in transition areas must be secured. A scheme called Biosphere Reserve has been implemented by the Government of India since 1986, in which financial assistance is given in a 90:10 ratio to the Northeastern Region States and three Himalayan states and the ratio of 60:40 to other states for maintenance, improvement, and development of certain items.

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