The President of Abertis and the Abertis Foundation, Salvador Alemany, gave a speech today at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris. The presentation, attended by Irina Bokova, UNESCO’s Director-General, showcased the work of the UNESCO-Abertis Foundation Centre. This public-private partnership was established when Castellet Castle, the headquarters of the Abertis Foundation, was designated as the Centre on Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves.
Also present were Spain’s ambassador to UNESCO, Juan Manuel de Barandica; the director of the Independent National Parks Authority (OAPN), Basilio Rada; and the scientific coordinator of the project, Dr Martí Boada.
The Abertis Foundation’s headquarters, Castellet Castle, was named as the Centre on Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves last November at the UNESCO General Conference in Paris. “We are very proud of the Abertis Foundation because since it was set up, it has raised environmental awareness and strengthened its commitment to the environment; backing research, hosting workshops and conferences, editing publications, sponsoring projects and opening the doors of its headquarters, Castellet Castle, to entities and projects such as this,” commented the President of Abertis and the Abertis Foundation.
UNESCO’s Director-General visited the new centre in May this year, emphasising “the importance for UNESCO of this public-private partnership; a pioneer in Biosphere Reserves.
The centre will carry out an in-depth study of the Mediterranean region, given that Castellet Castle is situated in a unique location, with rich biodiversity, and the centre is ISO 14:001 certified, which guarantees correct environmental management, minimising its impact on the area.
The planned programme of activities in Castellet is centred on the creation of a document archive on sustainability in natural environments, together with the environmental services of the Biosphere Reserves and networked sustainability indicators.
A database will also be set up in the framework of North-South cooperation, based on the compilation of publications on international cooperation relating to the Biosphere Reserves and National Parks of the Mediterranean region. Likewise, seminars, conferences, educational programmes, excursions and educational walks will be organised.
Biosphere Reserves are geographical areas representative of the planet’s different habitats, including both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. UNESCO started designating these natural environments at the beginning of the seventies with the aim of conserving and protecting their biodiversity, as well as promoting economic and human development in these zones, together with research, education and the exchange of information within the worldwide network that today is made up of more than 560 Biosphere Reserves in 110 countries. These were the first steps toward the concept of sustainable development known today as the MaB (Man and the Biosphere) Programme.
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