UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB)

Go to the MAB website.

The Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), proposes an interdisciplinary research agenda and capacity building aiming to improve the relationship of people with their environment globally. Launched in the early 1970s, it notably targets the ecological, social and economic dimensions of biodiversity loss and the reduction of this loss. It uses its World Network of Biosphere Reserves as vehicles for knowledge-sharing, research and monitoring, education and training, and participatory decision-making.

MAB is pursuing three main lines of action:

1: Minimizing biodiversity loss through research and capacity-building for ecosystem management
2: Biosphere reserves - promoting environmental sustainability
3: Enhancing linkages between cultural and biological diversity

During the period that the United States was out of UNESCO, the government continued to fund Americans to participate in Man and the Biosphere projects.