Biosphere reserves: Mobilizing against deforestation in the Amazon

UNESCO has partnered with LVMH, the luxury goods group, to fight against the direct and indirect drivers of deforestation in the Amazonian region.

Based on participatory approaches that combine scientific, local and indigenous knowledge, the programme will be monitored by teams in eight biosphere reserves –  in Bolivia (Pilón-Lajas, and Beni); Brazil (Central Amazon); Ecuador (Yasuní, Sumaco, and Podocarpus-El Condor); and Peru (Manu, and Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha).

The aim of the initiative is to promote the rehabilitation of degraded lands, while ensuring sustainable employment for local populations. In the Beni biosphere reserve, for example, the programme plans to build a greenhouse, and provide families in four communities with high-quality seeds of native timber species (mahogany) and local forest species (banana, coffee, cocoa, and citrus). These will be used to create plots under agroforestry systems, in fallow land traditionally used for agriculture.