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Proposed nomination of the ACT as a UNESCO Biosphere ReserveThis page covers the following topics: The history of biosphere reserves One of the activities of UNESCO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, is to administer the global network of Biosphere Reserves, a part of the Man and the Biosphere Program. More information on the biosphere reserve concept and the network can be accessed here. History - There are currently more than 500 biosphere reserves around the world, forming the world network. Australia has thirteen biosphere reserves. Originally, in the 1970s, biosphere reserves were established mainly to assist conservation. Since then the concept of biosphere reserves has been further developed, including at a major conference in Seville, Spain in 1995. In recognition of the urgent need for sustainable development around the globe, biosphere reserves are now also seen as valuable vehicles to promote sustainable development, in addition to their conservation and research functions. ACT proposal - In recent years there has been increasing interest in using the biosphere model to promote biosphere reserves with an urban component, encouraging sustainable development in cities. For some years now the Nature and Society Forum has been promoting the ACT as a potential biosphere reserve and we held public meetings on the topic in 2003 and 2006. The ACT Government is currently considering the proposal. Criteria for biosphere reserves - It needs to be emphasized that the concept of a biosphere reserve is in essence no more than a model/tool voluntarily available to any country to give them a framework through which sustainable development can be promoted. It is up to each individual country to use and adapt the model as it sees fit, according to its laws and land use regulations. It is true that a biosphere reserve has to meet some external criteria in order to be accepted into the world network, such as usually having examples of each the three zones of the classic biosphere reserve model - core, buffer and transition. Beyond that, it is up to each country to develop its biosphere reserves, without external interference. NSF position - The Nature and Society Forum preference for an ACT biosphere reserve nomination is that it should be for the ACT only, at least initially. This would enable a nomination to be considered by UNESCO as soon as is appropriate. Biosphere reserves can have flexible boundaries. Additional areas such as land and populations in New South Wales could be included later through a supplementary nomination to UNESCO. Nomination of the ACT should be possible by the end of 2008. It should not be unduly delayed for ceremonial reasons, given the scale of the sustainable development challenges facing the world at present. Biosphere reserve administration - The administrative structure of the proposed ACT Biosphere Reserve preferred by the Nature and Society Forum is that its Secretariat should have some links to Government. In the end it is Government which will have to make the final decisions on balancing conservation and development and which will be directly accountable to the electorate. Funding could be provided by Government for a small Secretariat of one or two staff people, perhaps through an annual grant. The ACT Government would provide most of the funds but the Commonwealth should also contribute because of its interests in the ACT. Biosphere reserve management - In many ways the ACT is already running like a biosphere reserve and the Nature and Society Forum does not believe there is a need to establish an autonomous management committee for the biosphere reserve, but rather a network of representatives of interested parties should be developed. Such a network could creatively co-ordinate activities and work to raise the international profile of the ACT as a model for sustainable development. Although autonomous management committees can work satisfactorily, there have been less than successful examples of such committees running biosphere reserves. At least one made decisions about the use of private biosphere reserve land over which they had no jurisdiction. In another case an autonomous committee appeared to demand a larger budget than appeared necessary to achieve its task. In some situations, powerful interests represented on an autonomous committee have used the committee to pursue their own conservation or development interests ahead of the balance between conservation and development the biosphere reserve model seeks to promote. The global role for biosphere reserves - The Nature and Society Forum sees the biosphere reserve model and the global network of biosphere reserves as even more valuable in these times of acknowledged climate change. Climate change is a global problem. The world network of biosphere reserves has already made a significant contribution to the identification of climate change through the meteorological measurements being taken over time at different biosphere reserves in a wide variety of habitats around the globe. Some of the programs of global networks of biosphere reserves specifically deal with climate change concerns. Individual biosphere reserves can function in future as nodes experimenting in living with and, as far as possible, ameliorating climate change. Biosphere reserves and climate change - The biosphere reserve program itself now needs to adapt its classical model to take climate change more into account. The protected core of a classical biosphere reserve, such as a national park, has been used in the past as the benchmark against which any impact of sustainable development in the outer transition zone could previously be measured. The core itself can no longer be taken to be a constant in times of rapid climate change. Even so, changes in protected core areas as a result of climate change should provide valuable intrinsic data. There will be opportunities for innovation to ameliorate the effects of climate change, using the buffer and transition zones of the classical biosphere reserve. There will also be opportunities for an ACT biosphere reserve to contribute to national biodiversity initiatives. Benefits of an ACT biosphere reserve - The Nature and Society Forum anticipates that a number of benefits will flow to the ACT from nomination as a biosphere reserve. A higher international profile should promote direct benefits for tourism and education. This international profile could also attract "creatives" to Canberra. Twinning relationships with particular biosphere reserves in other countries could be initiated. Nomination could stimulate the ACT to increase its involvement in the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, for which UNESCO is the lead agency. Other potential activities and benefits promoted by biosphere reserves are listed in the Seville Strategy, set out on the UNESCO web site above. An ACT biosphere reserve could increase the focus on such “inconvenient truths” as the impossibility of infinite growth when the planet’s resources are finite and the fact that the survival of humans is inextricably linked to the natural world. It could give more focus in the ACT to the development of intermediate technology and smaller scale production, both of which should have relatively low environmental impacts. There could be greater scope for sustainable horticultural production of food in the ACT and surrounding region, despite current shortfalls in arrangements for providing water. Horticulture generally requires less energy than commercial agriculture. Draft vision statement for an ACT biosphere reserve - A draft vision statement of what an ACT biosphere reserve could provide can be found here. Two aspects of this vision (how biosphere reserve status could attract 'creatives' to Canberra, and the role a reserve could play in Australian action to deal with climate change) will be found here. Recommendation - The Nature and Society Forum recommends that the ACT become a biosphere reserve as soon as is feasible. FAQ - A page of frequently asked questions about the ACT biosphere reserve proposal is being developed here in response to questions and comments sent to us. Updated 25 May 2007 |