Plenary conference – april 4

ACTING FOR THE ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION OF OUR TERRITORIES

The Biosphere Reserves are tools for providing local responses to international sustainable development objectives.

Public conference with the representatives of the 302 Biosphere Reserves of the EuroMAB network (36 countries), sustainable development stakeholders, experts, researchers, elected representatives, representatives of UNESCO, the State and French public organizations (AFB, PNR federation, research organizations)

9h00 – Reception of the participants

10h00 – Formal speeches

Jean-Jacques de PERETTI
Mayor of Sarlat-la-Canéda 

Germinal PEIRO
Deputy of Dordogne, President of the Regional Council, President of Epidor

 

Benjamin DELRIEUX
Regional Councillor,
Representative of Alain ROUSSET
Président of Regional Council Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Opening address: the challenges of biodiversity conservation

Christophe AUBEL

Director of the French Agency for biodiversity

The French Agency for Biodiversity

The law for restoring biodiversity includes the creation of a French Agency for Biodiversity (AFB), created on January 1st 2017. The diverse experiences acquired through the MAB programme contribute to the work of the agency in all these missions.

A few words about Christophe Aubel

Christophe Aubel is a schoolteacher by training. Thirty years ago, he became involved in the associative sector for the protection of nature on a voluntary basis. For the past fifteen years, he has been the director of Humanity and Biodiversity, presided by Bernard Chevassus au Louis, with Hubert Reeves as the honorary president. In February 2016, Christophe Aubel was appointed head of the French Agency for Biodiversity (Agence française pour la biodiversité – AFB).

Full summary of Cristophe Aubel

The deterioration of our planet increases each year. Global warming and the erosion of biodiversity continue at an accelerating pace. Nobody knows what the state of life on this planet will be in fifty years’ time. The decisions made today will influence the habitability of Earth for thousands of years to come. The situation is urgent: time is against us. 
The law for restoring biodiversity includes the creation of a French Agency for Biodiversity (AFB), created on January 1st 2017. The Agency supports public policies for the conservation of biodiversity, and also aims to encourage awareness of biodiversity in all sectors and on all territories. In order to do so, it focuses in particular on missions promoting knowledge, citizen mobilization, management of protected areas, control of use, expertise, training…  The diverse experiences acquired through the MAB programme contribute to the work of the agency in all these missions.

Meriem BOUAMRANE

Programme specialist MAB, UNESCO
Coordinator of the EuroMab Network

The MAB programme and its worldwide network of Biosphere Reserves: which values are to be shared and experienced together?

The Biosphere Reserve designation is much more than a label and international recognition: it involves the commitment and responsibility of the numerous stakeholders who live and work there. The Biosphere Reserve designation reminds us that human beings are part of the living world and that it is our duty to pass this life and all its possibilities on to our children.

A few words about Bouamrane

Meriem Bouamrane is an environmental economist, programme specialist in the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, Man and the Biosphere programme. She is the coordinator of the EuroMAB Network.

She is responsible for research and training programmes on access and use of biodiversity, participatory approaches and concertation, using biosphere reserves as research and demonstration sites. She is member of the PECS (Programme on Ecosystem change and Society, Stockholm University) Scientific Committee, sponsored by UNESCO and ICSU.

Full summary of Meriem Bouamrane’ speech

The Biosphere Reserve designation is much more than a label and international recognition: it involves the commitment and responsibility of the numerous stakeholders who live and work there. The Biosphere Reserve designation reminds us that human beings are part of the living world and that it is our duty to pass this life and all its possibilities on to our children.
Today, more than ever, faced with uncertainty in a world undergoing profound change, it is essential to recall the founding principles and values of our shared humanity. It is urgent to join together by sharing and embodying values respecting life and all its diversity, all its opportunities. The MAB programme and its worldwide network of biosphere reserves is taking on this responsibility, by sharing its experiences, its resources, its skillset, its solutions for sustainable development to inspire the world and reconsider its links and co-dependency with the living world in a positive and sustainable way.

Didier BABIN

Président du MAB France

Président du Conseil International de Coordination du Programme MAB de l’UNESCO

 

MAB: vision of a common and responsible future for prosperous societies in harmony with the biosphere.

Biodiversity is the living material of the planet and the MAB programme is one of the vital human fabrics for facilitating links between human beings around the biosphere. For over 42 years, the ambitious and innovative MAB vision has spread throughout society, particularly through the generalization of the concept of sustainable development.

A few words about Didier Babin

Didier Babin is a geographer at the CIRAD and an associated professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal. He is currently focusing on ecosystem accounting in order to integrate the natural capital into national and business accounting. He worked at the Convention of Biological Diversity on “biodiversity and eradicating poverty” and was a member of the United Nations technical team for the preparation of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015.

Résumé complet de l'intervention de Didier Babin

Biodiversity is the living material of the planet and the MAB programme is one of the vital human fabrics for facilitating links between human beings around the biosphere. For over 42 years, the ambitious and innovative MAB vision has spread throughout society, particularly through the generalization of the concept of sustainable development.
Today, sustainability should be a standard …. almost compulsory way of life. Each biosphere reserve contributes in its own way and in its specific context to taking up this challenge. The EuroMAB network and the World Network of Biosphere Reserves are places of exchange and sharing to inspire, transmit and spread solutions beyond our communities and to extend our zones of influence well beyond sites recognized as biosphere reserves. Faced with unprecedented threats to the conditions of life on Earth, it is urgent to take large-scale concrete action for the benefit of present and future generations and for our remarkable planet.

12h30 – Déjeuner

14h00 – Testimonies and feedback from European and North American Biosphere Reserves

At the beginning of the century, awareness of environmental challenges can be summed up by a single watchword: action! Biosphere Reserves are strategic actors for accompanying the transformation of our model of development and making it more sustainable. They promote knowledge and experience. Their actions are part of a flexible, non-regulatory framework, with no self-interest, and are coherent on a European and worldwide scale. They work in a network under the aegis of UNESCO. Testimonies from several Biosphere Reserves, in a short and dynamic format, will establish a panorama of their concrete action for the ecological transition and the achievement of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the countries of the United Nations Organization.

15h30 – The French Agency for Biodiversity

16h00 – Break

16h30 -Expectations from the 15th EuroMab meetings

Meriem BOUAMRANE

Programme specialist MAB, UNESCO
Coordinator of the EuroMab Network

Aims, work processes and expected results from the 15th EuroMab meetings

17h00 – End of the Conference