· Seed funding project on co-management of multi-designated sites
Following the webinars and discussions related to co-management of multi-designated sites on 29 Sep. and 6 Oct., UNESCO Beijing Office and EABRN Secretariat have initiated a seed funding project on co-management of multi-designated sites, aiming to report the best practices of multi-designated sites co-management and provide insights for other countries and regions, in particular East Asia, with multi-designated areas.
Three Biosphere Reserves are involved in this project: Jeju Island BR, Huangshan BR, and Hustai Nuruu BR. The project/research will be conducted by the following methods:
a) Data collection and literature review regarding multi-designated areas in East Asia and on Jeju Island, such as international and national research publications, meeting reports, laws, and regulations, etc.;
b) In-depth-interviews or focus group discussions with site managers, government officers, and members of the Jeju Provincial Management Committee for UNESCO Designated Areas; and
c) Analysis of collated data, literature review, results of in-depth interviews or focus group discussions and main findings of other separately implemented case studies.
The expected outcome of this project is a thesis report for 30-40 pages, which should be delivered before the end of November. The total budget for this project is USD 20000.
· Webinars on synergy topics regarding biodiversity and climate change
According to our survey among the participants, a webinar or workshop is still the most welcome activity organized by EABRN in the future. Based on the successful experience of the completed series webinars, our new webinars could engage more participants by exploring new publicity channels (Twitter, official webpage, etc.) and innovating on the format of the webinars (encouraging more discussion).
Meanwhile, we found that within our 6 webinars, the number of participants peaked at the webinar on 13. Oct. when the COP15 of Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was taking place. Thus, the topics of our following webinars could be designed to fit in with some popular and attractive topics, including CBD, biodiversity and climate change (nature-based solutions to climate change), etc.
· ESD (Education for sustainable development) in Biosphere Reserves
ESD is an innovative type of education that incorporates the economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainability. Addressing such issues with the interdisciplinary, holistic and comprehensible approach of ESD is a key principle that applies also very well to Biosphere Reserves, known as “model regions for sustainable development”.
Based on our discussion at the webinar on 29 Oct. it is possible to summarize the practices and methodologies of ESD in EABRN. For example, BRs in ROK and Japan have some outstanding examples of ESD projects targeting local communities and nearby urban residents/students. Drafting a relevant report or guideline will be of great help for other members in EABRN and WNBR in general. Furthermore, with adequate resources, pilot projects could be carried out in other BRs to test the applicability of the guidelines or methodologies.