Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve - Sweden (Photo: David Castor)

BECOME - Biosphere Reserves as Effective Conservation Measures

Learn more about the the UNESCO Chair Sustainable heritage and environmental management's project "Become." featured in the UNESCO report The Earth Network: sharing tools for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in UNESCO-designated sites. This UNESCO Chair is hosted at Bergen University and held by Dr. Inger Måren.

BECOME is a project focused on performing research across time and space on Biosphere Reserve (BR) effectiveness by integrating different dimensions and capturing what makes biosphere reserves unique. The project takes an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach, combining diverse methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness of BR management in supporting conservation and biocultural diversity. By evaluating processes and outcomes of Biosphere Reserve implementation, BECOME will encourage learning through participatory transdisciplinary processes, informing both Biosphere Reserve management and international policy. BECOME aims to develop and apply evaluation metrics to facilitate and track both compliance monitoring and adaptive learning outcomes.

Running from April 2023 to the end of 2026, the project is organized into five work packages (WPs). WP1 focuses on evaluating whether Biosphere Reserve zonation effectively supports conservation while enhancing participation and adaptive governance. WP2 aims to document case studies of diverse Biosphere Reserve management approaches and develop participatory monitoring frameworks. WP3 leverages futures visioning technologies to create shared visions and learning opportunities among Biosphere Reserve rights-holders (including youth) while generating new indicators for monitoring future changes. The project's WP4 focuses on synthesizing the findings to analyze biodiversity and development trade-offs in Biosphere Reserves. WP5 is dedicated to the coordination and facilitation of the project's transdisciplinary processes.
You can learn more about BECOME in this UNESCO Report and the project's website.