A brief history of the MAB Programme
The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme owes its origins to the "biosphere conference" held in Paris in 1968. The conference discussed the downward trend in the health of the environment and natural resources and concluded by promoting the rational use and conservation of natural resources through cross-disciplinary research linked to policy and management issues for conservation. This conference was the first world-wide meeting at the intergovernmental level to adopt a series of recommendations concerning environmental problems and to highlight their growing importance and their global nature.
As a consequence of this conference, the Man and the Biosphere Programme was set up in 1970 to respond to the issues identified. The programme was intergovernmental and interdisciplinary in its approach. The MAB Programme initially set several broad themes to guide collaborative endeavours. These included human uses and adaptations to different major ecosystems in the world, approaches for conducting environmental assessments, and developing effective measures to remediate polluted ecosystems. As more countries joined the MAB Programme they exchanged information and experience. Relatively soon after MAB began, it was decided to identify particular areas in the world where this kind of cross-disciplinary work was being conducted successfully. These areas were named biosphere reserves.
In 1995, a new era for biosphere reserves was started. After an international conference in Seville, Spain a new "statutory framework" for biosphere reserves was adopted. This was accompanied by the "Seville Strategy" that outlined the vision of the future of the MAB Programme into the 21st century. The criteria for biosphere reserves were reformed to include social, cultural, spiritual and economic needs of society alongside the use of scientific research. In a world increasing affected by severe human impacts biosphere reserves can become theatres for reconciling people and nature. This new strategy called for "new-style" biosphere reserves that involved more community participation.
Madrid held the 3rd World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in 2008. From this meeting came forth the "Madrid Action Plan" which covers the vision and mission of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves from 2008-2013 and looks to build on the success of the Seville Strategy.