Sustainabilty: Education

UNESCO-Biosphere reserves are prototypes for a contemporary concept of nature conservancy: natural prservation together with and through people. At this time 531 of these "model regions for sustainable development" exist world-wide. In Germany there are 13: examples are the Schaalsee near Hamburg, the Oberlausitz moor and wetlands landscape to the northeast of Dresden, the German-French area of Pfälzerwald-Nordvogesen, and Berchtesgaden in Germany’s extreme southeast.

A world-wide system of environmental reserves

Only intact ecosystems provide human beings and society with those very no-cost services that are indispensable to our survival now and in the future: water filtration, CO₂binding, prevention of flooding and landslides, and many more. Nature conservancy is both possible and necessary from the standpoint of human self- interest, neither ecological utopianism nor religiously motivated engagement for creation are needed to preserve creation. The preservation of biological diversity in the modern world – i.e. the diversity of genes, species and biospheres were the central topic of the ninth UN conference on biological diversity in Bonn in May 2008. One of the most important questions raised there was the creation of a world-wide system of protected areas. But in Bonn the sole existing global network of environmental reserves was discussed in terms of uniform standards as well: those of the biosphere reserves recognized by UNESCO.

What is unique about the biosphere reserves? Nature conservancy has a long history in Germany. Already in the 19th century, the Romantics protected natural landmarks. Germany has national parks, nature preserves, environmental reserves and, thanks to the European union, Natura 2000 areas. However, biosphere reserves uniquely combine the preservation of the ecological functionality of an area with well-conceived economic utilization. The relationship between human beings and nature is the central focus here, existing cultivated landscapes are maintained through utilization, and new, sustainable forms of utilization are being developed. Here, residents and visitors both learn how we may live in a world that is densely settled by human beings with ever-increasing demands, but whose resources cannot be exploited at will.

An obsolete concept of natural conservancy

Many people in Germany still associate the idea of natural conservancy with shutting off particularly valuable areas from human beings altogether. Since, according to this view , "valuable nature" is safely shut away in national parks, we may deal with "worthless nature" in the rest of the country all the more unthinkingly. Outside of the national parks, every attempt on the part of environmental activists to protect toads threatened by road construction is subjected to ridicule, outside of the national parks we assume that we may construct more than a square kilometer of new roads, residential or commercial areas per day without thought for consequences.

Biospheres, by contrast, are intended to advance "sustainable development," i.e. living and working in and with nature. Living and working so that ecological systems remain functional and biological diversity is maintained. To this end, the UNESCO biosphere reserves generate many significant impulses. They promote the marketing of products from the region, ecologically compatible tourism, and innovative and environmentally protective agriculture.

Biosphere reserves as sources of leading-edge impulses

The biosphere reserve of Schorfheide-Chorin, 75 km northwest of Berlin, is a good case in point: in 1998, a regional brand as a regional manufacturers’ guarantee seal for healthy and sustainably produced products and services was developed. This regional brand is a marketing instrument that shows that the purchased product was produced in this biosphere reserve in an ecologically compatible manner and that the raw materials were primarily derived from the biosphere reserve. Employment is created and nature is sustained and protected at the same time.

Tourism is the most important industry in the biosphere reserve of Vessertal-Thüringer Wald, one of Germany’s oldest. In the project Besucherlenkung (i.e. visitor guidance) all interest parties jointly define measures for bringing nature conservancy and tourism in harmony with each other. Which paths are in fact used by visitors at which times of day and seasons of the year are determined by means of photo sensor counting and surveys. In this way, the management is able to close off unused paths either permanently or during particular animals’ breeding seasons, without limiting the tourists’ freedom of movement.

And "migratory bird management" has been introduced in the biosphere reserve Flusslandschaft (i.e. river landscape) Elbe. In the eyes of many farmers, migratory birds such as swans and geese that stop over to rest here on a regular basis are first and foremost harvest raiders and pests. But the biosphere management team here has successfully implemented special rest areas that are largely free of disturbance by humans, and where ripe grain (that has been purchased from the farmers) is strewn. As it turns out, the migratory birds make preferential use of these areas, which does not lessen the farmers’ income, either.

Experimental fields and learning sites

The biosphere reserves arose as a network of areas that first of all were to serve as bases for interdisciplinary research on the coexistence of "Man and the Biosphere" (the title of the UNESCO program, MAB). Since the mid-Nineties, however, the diplomats have also realized that research alone is insufficient: biosphere reserves must implement the results as well. This means developing and testing models applicable to comparable problems elsewhere and strategies for solving global environmental problems. Starting in 2008, several German biosphere reserves will be developing new strategies for promoting renewable energies and for adaptation to global climatic change; for this purpose new types of trees that are not as easily damaged by storms are to be planted soon.

UNESCO terms the biosphere reserves "learning labs for sustainable development" – they also play an important part in the UN Decade "Education for Sustainable Devlopment." All participants learn about sustainability in a biosphere reserve, partly through external training, and partly by means of focused encouragement of cooperation on the part of all residents: farmers are trained in regional economics and organic agriculture, local and district councils in political approaches that involve the population from the beginning. Of course, children and young people, visitors and residents also acquire an understanding of the meaning of sustainability. But here the learning sites are not just schools and kindergartens, but also the home environment, the workplace, the local sport club. Lenelis Kruse-Graumann, a member of Germany’s national committee for the MAB program, emphasizes that: "In biosphere reserves, learning sites are not merely the information centre, but also the weekly farmers’ market or the local skilled crafts firm."

In the Rhön area, for instance, children learn how to evaluate their daily consumption of foods in terms of their contents and health value in an educational project organized by the management of the biosphere reserve. At the same time, they discover what the utilization of local products means for climate protection and employment opportunities locally.

Staying power is required

Even if these arguments are persuasive, the question still remains as to how particular areas might benefit concretely by becoming a biosphere reserve. UNESCO provides no funding and there are stringent criteria; for example, 3 percent of the surface area of a biosphere reserve may not be utilized at all. The Schwäbische Alb, that is currently applying for the UNESCO title, as is Bliesgau in the Saarland, provides the decisive argument: if a region is really serious about sustainable development, numerous funding options are available, such as from the European Union or the German government. But these forms of government assistance always have a time limit. Anyone who takes sustainable development seriously requires staying power – and a UNESCO biosphere reserve offers the space for this. This is demonstrated by examples from the Rhön area, where threatened species are being preserved by means of economically profitable but ecologically sound utilization. In addition, a UNESCO biosphere reserve offers integration into a global network – and global exchange has never been more important than in our times of global environmental change.