Biosphere reserves – learning sites of sustainable development?

Abstract

Large scale protected areas are considered a promising way of nature protection. Its management, however, depends to a great extent on the way in which potential coflicts between nature protection measures and socioeconomic aspirations of local population are treated. In this context the concept of biosphere reserve, as it was articulated at the UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MaB) Conference in Sevilla (1995) and reinfor-ced in Madrid (2008), is suggested as an efficient tool to achieve the consensus among individual stakehol-ders. In our conditions, the biosphere reserve is as a rule institutionally associated with the administration of a particular area protected according to the Czech environmental legislation. In order to discuss the chance of this concept to be practically implemented, three Czech biosphere reserves, including the Šuma-va Biosphere Reserve, were analysed in a view of four missions biosphere reserves are expected to fulfill. Results of the analysis suggest that the present day institutional setting enables three of the missions, pro-tection of biodiversity, research and education, to be achieved, whereas the fourth one, promotion of sustai-nable development, is more or less hindered. Nevertheless, successful implementation of the project “Sou-nd Tourism – A Chance for the Šumava Biosphere Reserve ” indicated a way how to overcome current institutional limits and make the biosphere reserve a learning site of sustainable development. Key words: nature protection, learning sites, biosphere reserves, sustainable development, Šumava Mts.