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Chapter 4 Management of Biosphere Reserves Chapter 4 Management of Biosphere Reserves (BRs) and various types of designated areas 78 / Education for Sustainable Development in Biosphere Reserves and other Designated Areas Chapter 4 Management of Biosphere Reserves (BRs) and various types of designated areas 4.1 Introduction - From environmental Since 1992 when the objective of sustainable development was management to sustainable management formally introduced and recognized as a guiding principle, se- rious and systematic attempts have been made so that envi- Since antiquity, human communities have developed ronmental management is combined and contributing to the customs and techniques to manage their relationships achievement of sustainability. with the environment and the natural resources, usu- The goal of sustainable development is to meet the needs of the ally as a set of unwritten rules and later as written laws. present generations without compromising the ability of future These aimed for safer, healthier and more productive generations to meet their own. use of natural resources and to manage daily needs in a The aforementioned definition of sustainable development has way that would cause the least possible societal tension been widely accepted. and protect human health and prosperity. Such rules It has also sparked discussions on how to define generational were often about water extraction and sharing, logging needs, particularly when looking at the needs imposed by the for fuel or construction, the use of roads and tolls, waste current model of western consumerism on one hand and the disposal and sometimes about the preservation of areas question of basic survival for billions of people living in deplor- (i.e forests) which held exceptional value for being sa- able conditions, on the other. In particular, sustainable develop- cred or culturally significant. Such activities comprise ment aims to: the prehistory of modern environmental management. • Manage and distribute resources wisely in favour of present generations without exhausting, diminishing or destroying them Environmental Management is not, as the phrase sug- for future generations. gests, the management of the environment as such. • Promote renewable, natural resources and new technologies Rather, it is the management of interactions human so- so as to achieve similar results using fewer resources. cieties have with the environment. It comprises the ap- • Promote the gradual change in lifestyle models with a drastic plied economic, technological, institutional, social and restriction on excessive consumption. empirical means necessary to reach the goal of protect- ing or improving the environment. Sustainable Development Environment Institutions Economy Education Science Society & technology ecology Society Economy Environment (i) (ii) Education (iii) Governance To better understand the above mentioned relationships in a vi- the space within the tetrahedron sides having governance as sually comprehensible way, Scoullos (2005) has suggested the its base. Analysing further the concept of governance, results replacement of the traditional temple-like model of sustainable to another figure (iii) that reveals its tools, namely institutions, development (i), to a tetrahedron (ii) the sides of which extend science-technology and ESD. continuously, thus sustainable development is represented in 1. The Camorchos 3-4. Protected 5. Biology class, 7. Biosphere 9-10. In vitro plant pond, Cuenta Alta dispersal corridor Ben Zakour School, Reserve residents, culture and del Río Manzanares and common Temara, Morocco Omayed BR, Egypt greenhouse culture, BR, Spain water frog, © UNESCO / ASPnet / © Thomas Schaaf Grindavik, Iceland © UNESCO / O. Brestin Camorchos Ahmed Outmani © UNESCO / pond area, 8. The mechanical Ariane Bailey 2. Information panel, Cuenta Alta del 6. Arganeraie Project harvesting of salt, Camorchos pond area, Río Manzanares Management, Aigues Mortes, © UNESCO / O. Brestin BR, Spain Arganeraie BR, South Camargue BR, France © UNESCO / O. Brestin West of Morocco © UNESCO / O. Brestin © MB of the Arganeraie BR / 79 2 1 4 3 7 6 9 5 10 8 80 / Education for Sustainable Development in Biosphere Reserves and other Designated Areas 11. Vokhtchi River, Kapan, Armenia 12. Tourists fishing and sunbathing at the dike, ©Olivier Brestin Marismas del Odiel BR, Spain © UNESCO / Olivier Brestin The ultimate goal of environmental management is to Fragmentation: the most common problem of Environ- protect the environment and to secure its ability to main- mental Governance: tain its functions and characteristics, regenerate and In the majority of the Mediterranean countries Ministries self-regulate. The first step in this direction is to intro- of Environment are hardly dominant in coordinating en- duce and further institutionalize regulations on human vironmental administration. However it is frequent that activities which will allow ecosystems and their related water issues are managed by Ministries of Water; Min- natural mechanisms to continue to function smoothly istries of Mercantile Marine cover protection of the ma- (within their carrying capacity). rine environment; Ministries of Health test bathing water quality and classify beaches; Ministries of Agriculture Environmental management should be examined through are responsible for protecting forests and/or monitoring the prism of sustainable development, which is based on rivers and Ministries of Transport monitor car emissions. three pillars: environment, economy and society. If one of This fragmentation may be overcome only if high level the parameters is lacking in relation to the others, sus- coordination is in place. tainable development cannot progress. This is directly related to both the balance and equality between gen- erations (inter-generation equity) but also within a com- Transboundary waters are an example that demon- munity and between the community and the rest of the strates the various kinds of pressures that may rise be- world. Obviously, balancing the three components does tween upstream and downstream countries or regions: not mean equal contribution of each, but combinations upstream countries may cause problems for the down- appropriate to address the needs of the societies and stream ones, for example, by holding large amounts of areas in question. This balancing is in the very centre of water (with dams) or by polluting it. Such disputes are management. economic or social in nature but they also cause serious environmental problems for the downstream regions Finally, the entire foundation of sustainable develop- because deltas and wetlands dry up or erode when wa- ment is based on the idea of good governance, where ter is depleted. To give another example, in times of war, consensus and peace are both a goal and a means (peace from antiquity up until recently, warring sides hoping to not only in the sense of “the absence of war”, but also as destroy their enemy would turn against the natural re- social consensus, etc.). Internal or external conflicts put sources by poisoning wells, cutting trees, etc. pressure on the vital environmental, economic and so- cial resources of a society. Lack of sustainable develop- Proper management not only contributes to environmen- ment integration is an unfortunate fact, especially con- tal protection and to safeguarding the unhindered func- sidering that, “already in 1997, it became a fundamental tioning of ecosystems, but also to economic prospects, objective of the EU when it was included in the Treaty of social consensus and peace. In contrast, poor manage- Amsterdam as an overarching objective of EU policies.” ment leads to environmental degradation, distorted (or, (source: http://ec.europa.eu) absence of) development, conflict and dispute. / 81 Cover of Agenda 21, Plan of action first adopted at the Earth Summit © United Nations 13. Bohinj River, Triglav BR, Slovenia © Giorgio Andrian The management process has adopted fundamental 4.2 The evolution of environmental principles such as providing information on environment management from 1960’s onwards and sustainable development for stakeholders and the general public, integration of environmental policy into In essence environmental management has always ex- other policies and its systematic implementation which isted in various forms since antiquity and was often requires technical infrastructure and the appropriate in- institutionalized under a set of legal, religious or tradi- stitutions, laws, administration, etc. Common tools of en- tional regulations. Internationally, environmental manage- vironmental management include looking at a system’s ment began to develop systematically between the late carrying capacity, or creating alternative scenarios to 1960’s and early 1970’s. predict the possible environmental consequences of a planned project in a given area. The conclusions are The initial approach, that of regulation and administra- summarized in studies known as Environmental Impact tive controls as the basis management was developed Assessments (EIAs) which are extended to Strategic Im- within the scientific community and environmental pact Assessment (SIA) when referring to policies. NGOs. At that time, these groups were formed by con- cerned citizens inspired also by “Limits to Growth”: Environmental management can be designed and imple- This was the title of a report, published in 1972, com- mented separately (e.g. for a protected area alone) or at missioned by the Club of Rome at M.I.T. (Meadows et al., the same time on many
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