• The first ‘The International Day for Biosphere Reserves’, was celebrated in November 2022.
• The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) was formed in 1971, as a backbone for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, and living in harmony with nature.
• There are now 738 properties in 134 countries, including 12 in India, four in Sri Lanka, and three in the Maldives.
• Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal do not have biospheres as yet.

Biosphere reserves

• Biosphere reserves are learning places for sustainable development.
• They are sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity.
• They are places that provide local solutions to global challenges.
• Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems.
• Biosphere Reserves involve local communities and all interested stakeholders in planning and management. They integrate three main "functions":
• Conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity
• Economic development that is socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable
• Logistic support, underpinning development through research, monitoring, education and training.

Importance of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR)

• It is a unique tool for cooperation through sharing knowledge, exchanging experiences, building capacity, and promoting best practices.
• Help extended through the network is of great importance because the ecological carrying capacity of the planet earth has been exceeded.
• The best concept for ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’ that exists in the United Nations system is the WNBR.
• It makes these places more important today than ever before, where humans are thriving and relearning how to live with nature.
• Biosphere reserves have all developed science-based management plans, where local solutions for sustainable human living and nature conservation are being tested, and best practices applied.

Designation of a site as a Biosphere

• All biosphere reserves are internationally recognized sites on land, at the coast, or in the oceans.
• Governments alone decide which areas to nominate.
• Before approval by UNESCO, the sites are externally examined.
• If approved, they will be managed based on a plan, reinforced by credibility checks while remaining under the sovereignty of their national government.

Biosphere reserves and opportunities

• In South Asia, over 30 biosphere reserves have been established.
• The first one was the Hurulu Biosphere Reserve, in Sri Lanka, with 25,500 hectares of tropical dry evergreen forest.
• In India, the first biosphere reserve was designated by UNESCO in 2000, namely, the blue mountains of the Nilgiris stretching over Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala.
• In the wake of the current scenario and considering the massive long-term threats to human survivability (besides pandemics and armed conflicts), such as biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and population dynamics, accelerated by the blind belief in technological solutions for all problems, the world needs many more biosphere reserves globally.
• In the context of this, South Asia offers countless options.

Opportunities in India

• India is a vast sub-continent, an emerging superpower of unlimited opportunities.
• It has become an important global player in environmental sustainability issues.
• India is likely to become the world’s most populated country in 2023.
• Spain is one of the leading participating WNBR countries globally, with 53 sites.
• In a comparison with the surface size of Spain to India (ca. 3.3 million km 2), and India’s human population of ca. 1.4 billion people, it appears a good idea to carry out a potentiality analysis of biosphere reserves in India, with a focus on the seven sisters in north-east India.

Looking ahead

• Some of the countries in South Asia do not yet have any or enough biosphere reserves.
• In most, if not all cases, the political will is certainly there, but there is a lack of know-how and financial resources.
• More financial support from the richer nations and the private sector would be desirable to advance biosphere reserves in these countries.
• The existence of the new World Network of Mountain Biosphere Reserves provides a welcome opportunity for Bhutan and Nepal to establish their first biosphere reserves and participate in the world network.

With at least one biosphere reserve per country in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal until 2025 (with additional biosphere reserves in India’s North-East and along the coasts) it will give realization to millions of people that a better future is truly possible — one where people will truly live in harmony with nature.

Note:-

Biosphere Reserves in India