UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme has added 25 new sites, one of them transboundary, in 18 countries to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, which now numbers 714 biosphere reserves in 129 countries around the globe.

New biosphere reserves are designated every year by the MAB programme’s governing body, the International Co-ordinating Council which has a rotating elected membership of 34 UNESCO Member States.

Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh has been declared as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. With this, the number of Indian sites in the list rises to 12. 

What are 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. Each site promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.

They are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. 

Biosphere Reserves are designated under the intergovernmental MAB Programme by the Director-General of UNESCO following the decisions of the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB ICC). Their status is internationally recognised. Member States can submit sites through the designation process.

Biosphere Reserves involve local communities and all interested stakeholders in planning and management. They integrate three main functions:

1) Conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity.

2) Economic development that is socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable.

3) Logistic support, underpinning development through research, monitoring, education and training.

These three functions are pursued through the Biosphere Reserves’ three main zones:

1) Core Areas: It comprises a strictly protected zone that contributes to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation

2) Buffer Zones: It surrounds or adjoins the core area, and is used for activities compatible with sound ecological practices that can reinforce scientific research, monitoring, training and education.

3) Transition Area: It is where communities foster socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable economic and human activities.

The World Network of Biosphere Reserves covers all major representative natural and semi-natural ecosystems. It spans over a surface of 6,812,000 km2 in 124 countries. It’s almost the size of Australia. There are about 257 million people living in Biosphere Reserves worldwide.

Panna Biosphere Reserve

Located in Madhya Pradesh, Panna is characterised by forests and marshy vegetation, with an abundance of rare medicinal plants as well as other non-timber forestry products, such as Kattha, gum and resins. 

It is a critical tiger habitat area and hosts the Panna Tiger Reserve, as well as the World Heritage site of the Khajuraho Group of Monuments. 

The area has undergone substantial ecosystem restoration in the buffer zone. With only three urban centres and over 300 villages, agriculture is the main source of income, together with horticulture, forestry, and eco-tourism.

The Panna National Park, created in 1981, was declared a Project Tiger Reserve by the central government in 1994.

Other Indian Biosphere Reserves in UNESCO list are:

• Nilgiri

• Gulf of Mannar

• Sunderban

• Nanda Devi

• Nokrek

• Pachmarhi

• Similipal

• Achanakmar-Amarkantak

• Great Nicobar

• Agasthyamala

• Khangchendzonga.

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