FAQ

What is a Biosphere Reserve?

A Biosphere Reserve is an area that has been recognised by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) – yes, the United Nations! – for its combination of ecological and cultural diversity and its desire to see these qualities used to support a sustainable and resilient way of life of the people who live and work there. Biosphere Reserves are designated by UNESCO but rely on local cooperation to ensure the careful management of built and natural resources, creating better conditions for future generations. To fulfil the criteria for Biosphere Reserve, people must live in the area. The concept of sustainable development depends on local support and involvement. The people living in the area are essential to Biosphere Reserves.

Is the Isle of Wight really that special?

In one word, YES!

Three quarters of the Island’s surface and all of its coastline and inshore waters are specially protected for their nationally and internationally important landscapes and habitat. Evidence for the pattern and change of human community here charts the sporadic occupation of the land mass that preceded the birth of the Island, from 430,000 years ago (at a time when there were hominid species other than humans here), to the unbroken chain of occupation and activity that follows the Island’s genesis in the Mesolithic flood of the Solent River. This extraordinary cultural timeline is embedded in the thirty-three parishes, each with its own stories, ancient and modern.

What can I do?

There are many things you can do to care for the Biosphere as an individual or as an organisation.The UNESCO Biosphere brings the Island into close contact with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These seventeen priorities for action provide an excellent guide. We have also developed a set of nine locally specific Biosphere Principles to inspire action as well as policy and strategy development. Can you use them in your life and work? Are there local organisations who are doing good work that you can support?

Don’t we need to be better in lots of ways to be worthy of UNESCO Biosphere status? 

Nowhere is perfect, nor can it be. What makes the Isle of Wight a credible Biosphere Reserve is how we work together to face the challenges that are ahead of us. We understand there is still plenty to do, and we have a long way to go before we are completely sustainable, but the Biosphere award is recognition of what we have achieved so far and in because of our intentions to do better and to be more sustainable in the future.

What are the functions of Biosphere Reserves?

According to UNESCO, Biosphere Reserve should fulfil three functions that work together and reinforce one another.

A conservation function – to preserve genetic variation, species, ecosystems and landscapes;

A development function – to foster sustainable economic and human development;

A logistic function – to support research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to local, national and global issues of conservation and development.

Is a Biosphere Reserve similar to those big domes found in Cornwall?

No, a Biosphere Reserve isn’t an artificially constructed biome. They are real places where people live and work. The local people care for their environment and manage the resources in the Biosphere Reserve that allow stable and sustainable economic growth and development.

It might not a real dome, but you could imagine it as one that covers the whole Island, stretching from the north shores of the Solent to the south out into the Channel. Everything and everyone within the dome is interconnected and has an impact on the rest of the Biosphere, whether it is in the countryside, towns and villages, or in the seas.

What are the benefits of Biosphere Reserves?

Biosphere Reserves provide a framework for projects that improve people’s lives and protect the environment in a sustainable way. Communities, local stakeholders and decision-makers gain an increased awareness of environmental and development issues. Biosphere Reserves may attract funding to demonstrate approaches to conservation and sustainable development that can provide lessons to be applied elsewhere. There are over seven hundred Biosphere Reserves, and this presents an opportunity to collaborate and share ideas with people around the globe.

I run a business on the Island – what’s in it for me?

UNESCO has very high reputation value for the countries, communities, businesses and organisations that are associated with it. For example, many biosphere sites have used their UNESCO status to highlight tourism and local produce. But more than branding and marketing, the Isle of Wight Biosphere designation shines a spotlight onto the fastest growing sectors of enterprise and innovation, the creative industries (including arts and heritage) and eco-engineering (including architecture, infrastructure and housing). The Island’s existing strengths in these areas, combined with the Biosphere validation, can drive significant improvement in opportunities for businesses, their customers and supplies. The family of Biospheres also of course represents a global network of like-minded businesses ready to talk! 

Who is in charge?

Local communities of people are the essential operators of a Biosphere Reserve. Decision-making in local councils, voluntary organisations, schools and business associations will all affect how the Biosphere Reserve works and how its benefits are secured for people, wildlife and the ecosystems they share. The Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership achieved the Biosphere designation for the Island and remains a key influence in how it delivers functions and objectives. The Isle of Wight Council has incorporated Biosphere principles into many of its core documents and continues to extend the reach of the Biosphere in public policy. The Island’s network of local councils (IWALC) provides regular information and guidance on Biosphere opportunities to the thirty-three parishes and some of these have already developed highly effective local projects and programmes using the Biosphere status to raise funding and deliver community benefits.  

What is the difference between a Biosphere Reserve and a Natural World Heritage site?

A Biosphere Reserve is a representative ecological area with three mutually reinforcing functions: conservation, sustainable development and logistic support for scientific research and education. Natural World Heritage sites must have outstanding universal value in accordance with the UNESCO convention on the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). In other words, it is the spirit of living, working places that combine rich natural and cultural identities that underpins the Biosphere designation, and an imperative to preserve and protect a critical set of locations representative of pristine natural systems.  

How does UNESCO ensure that Biosphere Reserves function properly?

Biosphere Reserves are governed by “soft law.” Member countries of UNESCO commit to apply their Statutory Framework for Biosphere Reserves. This means that the current UK habitat and landscape designations, such as: Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Marine Conservation Zones and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty form the law that governs the Biosphere. The Man and Biosphere National Committee (UK MAB) ensures Biosphere Reserves are responding to UNESCO’s criteria.

How does an area become a Biosphere Reserve?

An area needs to have a potential core area that is already highly protected for the long-term and is of at least European importance for its ecosystems. It may be designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or Special Protected Area (SPA). It does not have to be a National Nature Reserve. The local community also needs to be willing to become a leader in sustainable development on the world’s stage.

Following the identification of the core area, local support can be developed by creating a group or getting the local authority involved in the idea of becoming a Biosphere Reserve. Consultation with the UK MAB Committee will inform about the area’s suitability and ideas for zonation. The UK MAB Committee will be able to advise if a designation is likely to get their support or not in a short time. If the area does not get the instant support from the UK MAB Committee, they will advise what steps are possible to make a more successful Biosphere Reserve application.

With support from the UK MAB Committee, the application will be developed by the local community. The application form can be downloaded from the UNESCO website (link). The application form is technical, requires a lot of information and requires evidence of the community working together to get the designation. There will need to be a lot of documented public participation in the planning of the Biosphere Reserve. Other crucial evidence includes good zonation of the areas for the Biosphere Reserve, a good management plan and a good organisation structure that is representative and can deliver the management plan for the Biosphere Reserve.

Throughout this development phase that can take between two and five years, UK MAB will give support on how the project takes shape. Ultimately the application document will need the endorsement of the relevant stakeholders, the UK MAB Committee, the approval of the Minister for Defra or the Minister for environment in the devolved administration, before being sent by Defra to the UK Permanent Delegation to UNESCO in Paris.

The Isle of Wight Biosphere Nomination was written and submitted by the Isle of Wight AONB in partnership with many organisations and people across the Island and even some from the mainland. We have been working with the UK Government, with advice from the UK Man and Biosphere Committee. The Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere Reserve nomination was developed on behalf of the UK Government and the people of the Isle of Wight. This process started in 2016 and took 3 years. You can read the nomination form in Resources.

How does UNESCO decide on designating an area a Biosphere Reserve?

UNESCO invokes its own review and approvals procedures and makes the final decision. This includes review by a special UNESCO advisory committee of experts and then by the International Co-ordinating Council for the MAB Programme (MAB ICC). The approvals process in UNESCO is undertaken only once a year, so deadlines for submissions are important. Dates for submission can be found on the UNESCO website. The Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere Reserve was awarded on the 19th of June 2019.

Can I have more information please?

All Biosphere Reserves share three essential and integrated features:

• A high level of biological diversity.

• A high level of cultural diversity.

• An institutional, regulatory and political framework that recognises these.

Here are some headline island examples:

• 0ver 75% land and 100% coast covered by landscape and ecological protections.

• 12,000 existing species recorded and a thousand more from Island fossils (one hundred million years of biodiversity).

• Global importance for English endemic species (Early Gentian), international significance for winter waterbird populations, unique ‘famous four’ woodland mammal community (Dormouse, Red Squirrel, Barbastelle and Bechstein’s bats).

• An IUCN category five cultural landscape (AONB) covering half the island, comprising eleven distinct character areas.

• An IW historic landscape characterisation in thirteen distinct areas.

• Two thousand protected historic cultural assets.

• Exceptional accessible human ‘time depth’ reflected in wealth of historical landscape features such as prehistoric burial mounds, medieval deer parks, Victorian country houses and parklands.

• Almost double the regional and national rate of employment in the creative industries.

• Arts, culture and heritage in the top 50% contributors to IW economy by GVA per job (above health care, wholesale retail and accommodation).

The Biosphere designation is not the end of a project, it is the starting point. The Isle of Wight Council’s Application to UNESCO was a statement of intent and the Island has met the entry requirements of the World Biosphere Network club because it has remarkable resources of cultural and biological diversity and because it intends putting these resources to work to improve the lives of the people who live and work here. 

The Island has therefore effectively committed to a Biosphere Manifesto, promising that it will:

• Identify, understand, protect and invest in the island’s natural and cultural assets.

• Actively use this ‘foundation capital’ to shape a better, healthier, more resilient and more sustainable Island life.

• Encourage and support the broadest possible participation in this work by freely sharing accessible information, news, ideas and opportunities, allowing anyone and everyone to join in.

Biosphere principles, and a way of thinking and working that practically engages with them, can be summarised in three words - people, wildlife and place:

• People given access not only to essential services but to opportunities, individually and with others, to participate in shaping, for the better, the life of the neighbourhood and community which they share.

• Wildlife and its habitat respected, protected, explained and incorporated into the decisions we make about change. The possibility of wildlife encounter and an experience of the natural world treated as an everyday right.

• Places mined for their cultural content, their local distinctiveness, the sense of place that is in their built and natural form and the imprint of human ingenuity, enterprise, creativity and collaboration, old and new.

We can express the same ideas with another three words - Social Capital, Natural Capital and Cultural Capital. And we can introduce more complex ideas from the same starting point:

• Ecological health - remembering that humans are biological organisms who, however; sophisticated we may thing we are, still rely on the basics of a functioning ecosystem to be well.

• Biotic integrity - understanding the lifecycle requirements of species and their populations, protecting, creating and connecting these components in the places we build, manage and maintain.

• Cultural wellbeing - growing vitality in the places where people live and work by making it easy to participate in how that place looks, feels, functions and evolves and in how it is presented to the rest of the world.