Portugal elected to the Vice-Presidency of the UNESCO MaB Program

 In Notícias

Portugal has just been elected to the Vice-Presidency of the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Program. It is the first time that Portugal is a member of the JRC and occupies this prominent place, already at the 34th session of the Council, which is taking place until June 17, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The delegate chosen to represent Portugal is biologist António Abreu, UNESCO Chair in Biodiversity Safeguard for Sustainable Development  researcher, whose vast experience in the field of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves is also consolidated with his role as coordinator of the EEA Grants project “Biosphere Reserves: sustainable territories, resilient communities”.

UNESCO’s MaB Program, created in 1971, promotes the balance between human action and its environment and materializes, on the ground, through the designation of Biosphere Reserves around the world, which function as living laboratories of sustainability. In Portugal, there are 12 Biosphere Reserves, distributed between the mainland and the islands of the Azores and Madeira.

The MaB International Coordinating Council, where Portugal now holds the vice-presidency, is the main governing body of the MaB Program, being responsible, among other relevant decisions, for approving applications and integrating Biosphere Reserves into the UNESCO World Network , as well as the deletion or modifications to existing Biosphere Reserves. The World Network currently has 727 Biosphere Reserves, distributed across 131 countries. The Council is made up of only 34 of UNESCO’s 192 Member States and the term is 4 years (2022-2025).

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