Mohammedia – UNESCO’s 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Hangzhou, China brought together governments, scientists, reserve managers, and community leaders to set priorities for the next decade.
The focus of the congress was on biosphere reserves, which are protected places where people and nature work together, used as “living laboratories” to test ways of conserving biodiversity while supporting livelihoods.
The congress in Hangzhou focused on a new strategy for 2026–2035, reviewed the last ten years, and brainstormed solutions to make biosphere reserves more efficient in climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and local development.
Latifa Yaakoubi, director general of ANDZOA and chair of the MAB International Coordinating Council, stressed how urgent the problems are. She warned that nations now face a linked set of dangers — climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution — that together threaten economies and people’s daily lives.
“Countries around the world are now facing a series of interconnected crises, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The impacts of these crises are intensifying, affecting everyone and threatening the foundations of socioeconomic systems,” she said at the opening, according to China Daily.
China is now home to 34 UNESCO biosphere reserves, the most in Asia, and the country showed the congress how those areas link conservation with local development.
Organizers say the event decided on a strategic action plan and a declaration to anchor biosphere work in real local policies and budgets. About 3,000–4,000 delegates from more than 100 countries attended, making it one of the largest meetings ever for the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) network.
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Yaakoubi added that the MAB Program exists to improve understanding of how people and nature connect, and that better knowledge is a key way to change behavior and protect both communities and ecosystems.
Yaakoubi also urged that the Hangzhou Action Plan must anchor biosphere reserves in local territorial dynamics, stressing the need to connect global goals with local action by involving communities directly in management.
“Only by deepening our knowledge can we change our behavior,” she told delegates, highlighting the need for stronger community participation and locally driven solutions, as reported by the IISD Earth Negotiation Bulletin.
During the sessions, she commended the warm hospitality of the Chinese hosts and recognized the dedication of UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and everyone contributing to the MAB Program.
Other leaders at the congress echoed those themes. Antonio Abreu, UNESCO’s MAB secretary, praised China’s progress and called some Chinese reserves models where local livelihoods improve while ecosystems are restored.
Azoulay underlined the idea of “concrete multilateralism,” saying the World Network of Biosphere Reserves shows countries working together in practical ways from joint science to community monitoring, and called for better integration of Indigenous and local knowledge into reserve management.
The Congress did not promise instant fixes. Delegates flagged familiar problems: funding gaps, the need for long-term monitoring, and the difficulty of turning plans into sustained actions on the ground.
The Hangzhou meeting aimed to make the network more useful by pushing for measurable results, stronger local governance, and clearer links between reserves and global goals like the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework and the Paris Agreement.
