SC-20/CONF.232/10 29 September 2020 Original English UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme Thirty-second session Online meeting 27th- 28th October 2020 ITEM OF THE PROVISIONAL AGENDA: Presentation of the Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves 1. At its 27th session, the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB-ICC) decided the development of Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves (referred as TGBR thereafter) and entrusted the MAB Secretariat for this endeavour. The MAB Secretariat reported on the progress of the development of the TGBR since the 29th session of the MAB-ICC1. 2. The TGBR will enable Member States and the MAB Council to respond more appropriately and timely to the various practical challenges and technical questions encountered in the implementation of the Seville Strategy and the articles of the Statutory Framework of World Network of Biosphere Reserve (WNBR). By providing critical information and clarification on the WNBR, the TGBR fosters the implementation of current - MAB strategy (2015-2025), the Lima Action Plan (2016- 2025) - and future Strategies and Action Plans. 3. The TGBR will be an open access web-based living document compiling contributions and experiences from the MAB community on specific items. As the TGBR cannot answer all the possible questions and needs, it is flexible and will be periodically updated and used preferably with the TGBR support webpage, where references to discussed topics can be shared in more detail. 4. In support of the drafting process of the TGBR, the MAB Council decided to establish a TGBR-working group (TGBR-WG) to support the work of the MAB Secretariat. Member States were invited to nominate names of experts in four priority areas identified at its 29th session: 1) Zonation of biosphere reserve; 2) Governance of biosphere reserves; 3) Policy, management and business plans; 4) and Data management and monitoring. 1 SC-17/CONF.229/13; SC-18/CONF.230/13; SC-19/CONF.231/13 rev SC-20/CONF.232/10 - page 2 5. At its 30th session the MAB Council endorsed the modus operandi and road map of the working groups. 6. By November 2018, 70 experts from 33 countries had been identified, approximately representative by the number of biosphere reserves in each region with an average of 1/3 female members. Four Technical Subgroups (TSG’s) in line with priority areas were established related to each priority area (zonation, governance, management and policy and monitoring). The MAB Bureau approved the final list of TSG members compiled by the MAB Secretariat as well as their respective Chair and Rapporteur. TSG’s started their drafting work by theme as of January 2019. 7. Throughout the drafting process, the MAB Secretariat provided technical support as well as logistical support to facilitate communication, information sharing and virtual meetings of the TSGs. The drafting process included review of document by email and online meetings in English. France contributed to the TGBR process by seconding an intern to the MAB Secretariat from February 2019 to July 2019. 8. In conformity with the decision of the 31st MAB-ICC the MAB Secretariat worked with the TSGs to finalize the outline and prepare the content of the guidelines in order to present them to 32nd ICC. As informed during the 31st session, the MAB Secretariat recruited a consultant as of March 2020 to support the drafting of the content for TGBR. 9. The first drafts by theme were completed by the TSGs in May 2020 which were then consolidated into one single document. In order to ensure the consistency of this document the TGBR-WG, composed by the Chair and the 4 rapporteurs of the TSG’s, reviewed it. 10. As per the MAB ICC’s guidance, the International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves (IABCR) provided comments and inputs to the draft document revised by TGBR-WG. 11. The MAB Bureau reviewed the document revised by the IABCR and approved the final draft in September 2020, after inclusion of its inputs and comments. This document will be migrated into its electronic format after the 32nd session of the MAB ICC. 12. The main issue in the current draft is the unbalanced distribution of cases studies by the regional network. However, since the TGBR is a living document, number of case studies will be increased as the MAB Secretariat identify more examples. 13. The MAB-ICC is invited: to examine and to take note of the final draft of the Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserve contained in Annex I of this document as approved by the MAB Bureau SC-20/CONF.232/10 - page 3 to provide guidance to the MAB Secretariat with regards to possible new items to be added to the TGBR to encourage Member States to send relevant case studies for the 4 priority items Zonation of biosphere reserve; Governance of biosphere reserves; Policy, management and business plans; and Data management and monitoring 14. The MAB ICC request the MAB Secretariat to work with the International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves to identify more case studies to be included in the TGBR support webpage. SC-20/CONF.232/10 - page 3 ANNEX 1 Introduction Background and purpose of the Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves (TGBR) 1. Biosphere reserves worldwide operate according to the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). This key document embraces the philosophy of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and the concept of Biosphere reserves. Its indisputable assets lie in its flexibility, as it has to deal with areas in a global context and for the near future; the foundations that it provides have proved its validity over time. 2. Since the adoption of the Statutory Framework of World Network of Biosphere Reserve (WNBR) in 1995, the WNBR has continued to grow. As the network expands, new challenges emerged and new technical and practical questions are encountered. At the same time, most global institutions are under increasing pressure to showcase quality management as regards their processes. Therefore, the "Process of excellence and enhancement of the WNBR as well as quality improvement of all members of the World Network" was introduced in 2017 by the International Coordinating Council of the MAB Programme (MAB-ICC). 3. Many newly proposed sites, as well as existing biosphere reserves during their periodic review process, faced questions that could not be clearly answered by Statutory Framework. These matters were usually related to the functions (Article 3), the criteria (Article 4), nomination of new biosphere reserves (Article 5), periodic review reports (Article 9), and management of biosphere reserves already part of the WNBR, and its regional and thematic subnetworks (Article 8). Also, the implementation of the current MAB Strategy (2015-2025) and the Lima Action Plan (2016-2025), require more detailed guidelines than those available in the Statutory Framework. This will also be the case for future Strategies and Action Plans. 4. In order to provide additional support to all stakeholders (or actors) in the MAB Programme, the MAB-ICC decided at its 27th session (2017) to develop “Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves” (referred to as TGBR hereafter). The TGBR should enable Member States and other MAB stakeholders to address the various practical challenges and technical questions encountered in the implementation of the articles of the Statutory Framework, based on scientific cutting-edge knowledge, state-of-the-art practical expertise and political consensus. 5. The MAB-ICC approved the format of TGBR at its 29th session. The TGBR is an open access, web-based, living document compiling contributions and experiences from the MAB community on specific items, such as the Nomination, revision and review of a biosphere reserve, as well as in following priority areas: Size and Zonation; Governance; Plans, Policies and Strategies for Biosphere Reserves; Monitoring and Evaluation in Biosphere Reserves and Networks and partnerships to support Biosphere Reserves. It is foreseen that, over time, the TGBR will include additional themes for which guidance is required (e.g. local economic activities, templates with regard to reporting, collaboration with the private sector, participation etc.) The MAB-ICC agreed to establish thematic working groups. Their contributions are the base of this document. A significant amount of valuable SC-20/CONF.232/10 - page 4 information was also drawn from the Management Manual for UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Africa; its preparation was supported by the German Commission for UNESCO. 6. The purpose of the TGBR is to provide elements to help implementation of articles of the Statutory Framework and subsequent Strategies and Action Plans. It is based on practical experience with the MAB Programme. As the TGBR cannot answer all the possible questions and needs, it is flexible and will be periodically updated and used preferably with the TGBR support webpage, where references to discussed topics can be shared in more detail. 7. The primary target groups of this document are the stakeholders2 of existing BRs as well as prospective sites. The term ‘stakeholder’ is used in this document for reasons of simplicity, as the individuals and groups concerned with, and with a stake in, BRs are as diverse as the biosphere reserves (referred as BR(s) hereafter) themselves. They include all right holders at all levels of society and may have various levels of affiliation to the MAB Programme. It would be impossible to explicitly name all relevant groups here but they are in particular landowners, land users, Indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society organisations, National MAB Committees, biosphere reserve managers, governmental authorities at all levels, private companies, and intergovernmental and international organizations. 2 Stakeholders typically refers to both the rights holders (an array of rights and an array of holders of such rights), as well as certain interested parties who should be taken into consideration to different degrees when considering governance and decision-making.