Unesco's MAB Programme

UNESCO's Man And the Biosphere (MAB) Programme focuses on researching and testing different approaches to sustainable development that encompasses many various disciplines. These approaches are put into practice through the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Each biosphere reserve in this global network has a unique configuration of climate and biodiversity as well as cultural and economic circumstances. The biosphere reserves stand as exemplary beacons of how people can apply the global principles of sustainable development to actions on a local scale.

The MAB Programme also engages in wider activities on significant ecosystems through networks on drylands, mangroves, mountains, tropical forests, savannahs, wetlands, and marine, island and coastal areas. Activities include studies on carbon economies, ecosystem management, desertification, sacred natural sites and global change in mountain regions.