BIOSPHERE RESERVE IMPLEMENTATION:

CLAUDIO DANIELE, MARCELO ACERBI AND SEBASTIÁN CARENZO

WORKING PAPERS South-South Co-operation Programme

UNESCO Division of Ecological Sciences South-South Co-operation Programme

Lugar: Paris, Francia; Año: 1999 p. 1 - 35

This work analyses some aspects of the implementation of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere(MAB) Programme Biosphere Reserves (BRs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) After a briefpresentation of BRs in relation to the Latin American territorial context, three thematic axes are developed:1) The evolution and trends for implementation of BRs, taking into consideration LAC participationin the World Network, the participation of each of the countries of the region, and the presence ofthe “Regional Network” in biogegraphical terms; 2) Forms of management of BRs, their interactionwith other management categories and their administration; 3) The impact of MAB National Committeesas a framework for the management of the BRs.General trends are identified for each axis, interpreted through a group of hypotheses set out inthis paper. Finally, the authors conclude that, although during the past two decades the interest of LACcountries in the implementation of BRs has been maintained, they have not yet been fully consolidated.Among the causes are: the “partial” application of the BR concept; lack of accuracy in articulationwith other management categories; centralization of management; the current socioeconomicalcontext, which has, on several occasions, limited the formulation of national policies giving continuityand specific support to BRs.This report was prepared on the basis of compilation, standarization and analysis of informationrecorded in bibliographic sources and documents.