SUPERVISOR: Katharina GUGERELL 

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Alexander MITROFANENKO

For five decades, UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme has provided an opportunity for people around the world to explore local solutions to global challenges using Biosphere Reserves (BR), generating a wealth of experience and innovative potential for a sustainable future (UNESCO, 2017). Recent strategic documents redefined the key aim of BR, emphasizing their role as laboratories for sustainability, encouraging science-society interactions (SSI) and knowledge-sharing among local stakeholders (UNESCO, 2017; Reed, 2019).

Mountainous regions, which are home to more than half of the 738 UNESCO designated BR worldwide (UNESCO, 2023), are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of global changes, including climate change and biodiversity loss (Thuiller et al., 2005). Mountain regions are inhabited by more than a billion people; the ways of life, traditional knowledge and cultures of the diverse communities inhabiting them have played a crucial role in shaping ecosystems and conserving biodiversity (Aquerreta & Vivien, 2022). Researching mountainous BR is relevant since (1) they represent vulnerable and valuable landscapes and ecosystems, and (2) offer a unique opportunity to study how societal actors like local communities and scientific research can collaborate to achieve common goals in the context of conservation, livelihoods and sustainable development. However, so far, the assessment and evaluation of how mountain BR act as role models for SSI is still not well understood and represents a research gap. Moreover, though the recent UNESCO MAB policy documents have had a significant impact on the trajectory of the BR concept, their specific influence on SSI within mountainous BR remains largely unexplored.

The overarching goal of this PhD is to offer a comprehensive and systematic overview of the interactions between science and society in mountainous BR, as well as to examine existing conceptualizations of and perspectives on these interactions. The study will undertake a detailed exploration of SSI that exist across mountainous BR, exploring how different actors such as BR staff and management, researchers, policymakers, and local communities collaborate and engage with each other and delving into the implementation of SSI in different regions. Furthermore, the research will explore how mountainous BR are embracing their role as model regions (as outlined in the Lima Action Plan) for establishing new partnerships between science and non-academic actors, and whether there is a gap between the concept and practice. The PhD will address the following research questions:

  1. How do viewpoints of BR staff and National Committee members differ on global scale when it comes to SSI?
    1. Which conceptualizations of and perspectives on SSI are occurring in mountainous BR at the global scale?
    2. What aspects of SSI do stakeholders in mountainous BR and BR networks consider relevant for BR as model regions for sustainable development?
  2. What forms of SSI have been experimented with and implemented in mountainous BR at the global scale?
    1. How do SSI and research practices in mountainous BR reflect the vision of BR outlined in MAB policy documents such as the Lima Action Plan?
    2. To what extent have mountainous BR experimented with forms of transdisciplinary knowledge co-production?
  3. How do non-research actors participate in SSI within mountainous BR?
    1. How is traditional/indigenous knowledge considered in the governance and management of mountainous BR?

References
Aquerreta, R., & Vivien, L. (2022). Harnessing the socio-ecological potential of mountain biosphere reserves for biodiversity conservation: policy brief.

Reed, M. G. (2019). The contributions of UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme and biosphere reserves to the practice of sustainability science. Sustainability Science, 14, 809-821.

Thuiller, W., Lavorel, S., Araújo, M. B., Sykes, M. T., & Prentice, I. C. (2005). Climate change threats to plant diversity in Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(23), 8245-8250.

UNESCO. (2017). New Roadmap for the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France.

UNESCO. (2023). Mountain biosphere reserves in a new era for resilient socio-ecological systems. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/mountain-biosphere-reserves-new-era-resilient-socio-ecological-systems#:~:text=Among%20the%20738%20biosphere%20reserves,knowledge%2Dsharing%20among%20mountain%20communities. Accessed 4 May. 2023.