The Afromontane rainforest of Ethiopia is under the threat of deforestation and forest degradation, despite its significance as one of the only homes for wild populations of coffea arabica. One of the management initiatives was the UNESCO forest Biosphere Reserve (BR) aimed at strengthening policy and regulatory actions among local, regional and global governments and reconciling conservation with local development to monitor forest coverage changes. Assessing the impact of BR forest management and conservation on location, time and intensity of forest disturbances through Man and Biosphere (MaB) programme and REDD+ activities is important for regulatory actions. Empirical evidence on the achievement of this programme was not documented so far. This study is aimed at identifying the roles and assessing spatiotemporal impacts of this BR, together with measuring forest cover change dynamics and the drivers of such change in Yayu Coffee Forest BR of Ethiopia. Using multi-temporal Landsat datasets with in-situ field survey, the study employed BFAST monitor to detect historical forest disturbances and mobile devices to signal changes and collect the relevant data from households. Forest cover change was analysed both spatially (within the BR zones, and between the BR area and the leakage belt), and temporally before and after the implementation of the BR. Qualitative analysis on the role of the BR in tropical areas indicated that progresses in reducing deforestation were observed in areas where MaB aims were appropriately enacted. Landsat image analysis of the study revealed that transition zone has more deforestation rate than both buffer zone and core area within the BR, while relatively high deforestation rate was observed in the leakage belt than in the BR area. After implementation of the BR, average annual deforestation rate was declined from 0.29% to 0.16% in the BR area, and from 0.71% to 0.6% in the leakage belt, respectively, indicating the progress of BR program in reducing deforestation. Farm land expansion, mismanagement of coffee forest, access to forest, road and market were observed as the main drivers and underlying causes of forest cover loss. The findings of the study imply that BR efforts with MaB program and REDD+ activities have enhanced forest cover protections and carbon emission reductions in the study area. Therefore, promoting these initiatives at the local level is important for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation strategy of the country.

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) are designated areas in geographical regions of global socio-ecological significance. This definitive book shows their global relevance and contribution to environmental protection, biocultural diversity and education. Initiated in the 1970s as part of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme, BRs share a set of common objectives, to support and demonstrate a balance between biodiversity conservation, sustainable development and research. The world’s 701 BRs form an international, intergovernmental network to support the aims of sustainability science, but this purpose has not always been widely understood. In three distinct sections, the book starts by outlining the origins of BRs and the MAB Programme, showing how they contribute to advancing sustainable development. The second section documents the evolution of BRs around the world, including case studies from each of the five UNESCO world regions. Each case study demonstrates how conservation, sustainable development and the role of scientific research have been interpreted locally. The book concludes by discussing thematic lessons to help understand the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainability science, providing a unique platform from which lessons can be learned. This includes how concepts become actions on the ground and how ideas can be taken up across sites at differing scales. This book will be of great interest to professionals engaged in conservation and sustainable development, NGOs, policy-makers and advanced students in environmental management, ecology, sustainability science, environmental anthropology and geography.

The Seville Strategy spurred a signifi cant paradigm shift in UNESCO's MAB Programme, re-conceptualising the research programme as a modern tool for the dual mandate of nature conservation and sustainable development. However, many biosphere reserves failed to comply with the new regulations and in 2013 the 'Exit Strategy' was announced to improve the quality of the global network. This study presents a global assessment of the implementation of the quality enhancement strategies, highlighting signifi cant differences worldwide through 20 country-specifi c case studies. It concludes that the strategies have been fundamental in improving the credibility and coherence of the MAB Programme. Challenges in the implementation were not unique to individual countries but were common to all Member States with pre-Seville sites, and in many states the process has led to a rejuvenation of national biosphere reserve networks.

Biosphere reserves serve in some ways as "living laboratories" for testing and demonstrating integrated management of land, water and biodiversity. With this publication the national MAB-committee of Germany gives a detailed presentation and description of the Biosphere Reserves of Germany.