Report of the EuroMAB Conference 2013, “Engaging our Communities”, Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, Brockville (Ontario, Canada), 15–19 October 2013

Abstract

The EuroMAB Network includes all European and North-American member states which participate in the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and in UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). EuroMAB is the largest and oldest of the Regional MAB Networks and is made up of 52 countries, including Canada and the USA, and 289 biosphere reserves (BRs). Bringing together almost half of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the EuroMAB Network is a platform for sharing knowledge, know-how and experience of sustainable development, as well as a collective tool for supporting sustainable development practices among BR coordinators, scientists and MAB National Committees. Since the first meeting in 1986 in České Budêjovice, Czech Republic, the MAB National Committees and BR coordinators of EuroMAB have met almost every two years. Previous EuroMAB conferences have been held in Minsk, Belarus (1997), Cambridge, UK (2000), Rome, Italy (2002), Hernstein, Austria (2005), Antalya, Turkey (2007), Stará Lesná, Slovakia (2009), and Lundsbrunn, Sweden (2011). EuroMAB meetings are dedicated to bringing together BR coordinators, BR experts, MAB National Committees and partner institutions.