There is an old saying:
The history of civilization is written in shifting sands.Many civilizations have risen and then fallen, and sometimes we can barely find their remains because they are covered in desert sands. Increasingly, evidence is gathering that the fall of civilizations often came when their demands on their environment exceeded what those environments could sustainably provide. Sometimes, the failure was due to a series of bad years, as do occur everywhere, which the society could no longer survive. Sometimes a new society with a better way to sustainably exploit the environmental resources was able to reclaim the land once lost, and sometimes not.
All responsible scientists agree that prudence demands that mankind learn how to better manage our environment to assure our civilization now and in the future is sustainable. Globalization, and the increasing ability of mankind to change our environment have resulted in a situation in which the concern for the environment is global, and not simply that of the local environment of a regionally constrained society.
The MAB program involves networks a global community of scientists studying sustainable development in a wide variety of ecosystems. There is a distinguished team of scientists forming the U.S. Man and the Biosphere Committee, including people serving on key government agencies. Indeed, the Department of State continued to fund U.S. researchers on Man and the Biosphere during the years in which we were not members of UNESCO.
The Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve is a partnership of
13 protected areas in the greater San Francisco Bay area.
13 protected areas in the greater San Francisco Bay area.
Of special interest is the network of 243 Biosphere Reserves in 33 countries, which are sites that are selected by a peer review process for long term research and analysis. Here is a list of the 47 bioreserves nominated by the U.S. government and approved for inclusion in the network. Most, you will note, are either national parks, national forests, or other protected, government-owned sites.
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