On December 16 and 17, 2021, Dr. Antoni Mas-Ponce, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and technician of the Besòs Tordera Consortium, participated in the conference MAB-IHP Regional Symposium Managing Water Resources in Biosphere Reserves in South East and the Mediterranean, organized by the UNESCO Regional Office in Venice.
From a holistic and multidisciplinary perspective, UNESCO through the MAB (Man and the Biosphere Program) and IHP (Intergovernmental Hydrological Program) is designing, with the Biosphere Reserves as the main axis, actions related to research and science to comply with the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
In this sense, the main objective of the conference was to contribute to a sustainable water resources management model in the Biosphere Reserves of Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean area. The different case studies, projects and solutions presented during the session will allow UNESCO, together with the network of Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves, to promote solutions and projects related to water resources in these territories.
The conference was attended by about thirty experts, including members and representatives of the MAB and IHP programs, coordinators and experts in water resources who work in and for the Biosphere Reserves, as well as other members of the UNESCO and MAB networks such as national and municipal authorities, researchers and regional organizations related to water resources, among others.
Dr. Mas-Ponce, as a researcher linked to the UNESCO International Center for Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves, presented the strategic lines of the Center and its main research projects in the field, in addition to the main results of his recent PhD thesis entitled Assessing the effects of Global Change on Mediterranean river basins, which has the Montseny Biosphere Reserve (NE, Catalonia) as its main area of study.
Finally, the expected results obtained from this conference will be aimed to expand the exchange of knowledge regarding the river systems of this region, explore how the MAB and IHP programs can be applied in the different case studies presented and, above all , strengthen the relations between UNESCO regional networks, including the Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves Network promoted by the Abertis Foundation based in the Castellet Castle, and other relevant actors, especially those working in Biosphere Reserves.
15 January 2023
Following the closure of the Erasmus+ EduBioMed project, on capacity building for education and research applied to Mediterranean biosphere reserves, UNESCOMED has taken up its baton and its motto: "It's time to learn from biosphere reserves".
Therefore, from the UNESCOMED website, an interactive platform for the exchange of knowledge on Mediterranean biosphere reserves, we are launching a new series of training videos on biosphere reserves as part of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) produced in the framework of the EduBioMed project.
The series of short videos, which includes an initial inspirational lecture and 28 educational talks organised in 5 ...
14 December 2022
During the second semester of 2022, five new biosphere reserves have joined the Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves' Network.
25 November 2022
On 23, 24 and 25 November, Castellet Castle became the meeting point for defining the future strategic lines of the Mediterranean Network of Biosphere Reserves (MedMaB).
This was the first face-to-face meeting of managers after the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing together more than 30 managers from 8 different countries.
Elena Salgado, chairlady of the Abertis Foundation and Georgina Flamme, director of the Abertis Foundation were present at the event along with Sagrario Arrieta, deputy director of the Autonomous Organisation of National Parks (OAPN) and Nöeline Raondry, director of the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences at UNESCO, among other personalities.
