The UNESCO International Centre for Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves (CIURBN) and the headquarters of the Abertis Foundation are continuing to foster collaboration between the various European networks.

Last Tuesday, at an event in Venice entitled ”The Network of Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves. Towards a strategic cooperation with the Adriatic region", the CIURBN set out its plans for strengthening ties with the Biosphere Reserves of the Adriatic and Ionian regions. 

This event, jointly organised by the Abertis Foundation and Autonomous University of Barcelona under the auspices of UNESCO, was presided over by Salvador Alemany, chairman of Abertis and director of the Abertis Foundation; Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores, Director of the UNESCO Bureau in Italy; and Carlos del Río, chairman of A4Holding, a subsidiary of Abertis in Italy.

In his opening address, Salvador Alemany emphasised the desire to establish the UNESCO Centre as a benchmark for excellence and model for collaboration between both coastlines of the Mediterranean on Biosphere Reserves-related matters and as a facilitator of the development of agreements and links.

Also in attendance were Roser Maneja, scientific coordinator of the UNESCO Centre; Vanja Debevec, director of the Karst biosphere reserve in Slovenia; Sergio Rossi, a specialist in marine biology from the University of Bologna; and Sergi Loughney, director of Institutional Relations and CSR at Abertis and director of the Abertis Foundation.

Loughney emphasised that this project, in partnership with as esteemed a body as UNESCO, communicates robustness and transparency, which are key concepts in the CSR policies of companies in the 21st century.

In his closing address, Miguel Clüsener-Godt, director of the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences of UNESCO, emphasised the crucial role of public-private companies in the creation of prestigious future CIURBN projects in other countries.