UNESCO: Biosphere Reserves and Climate Change

The proceedings of the high-level international conference titled "For life, for the future - Biosphere reserves and climate change," are now available. In the outcome document, the "Dresden Declaration," participants call for closer links among climate change mitigation and adaptation, poverty alleviation and the conservation of biological diversity. The Declaration was endorsed in November 2011 by the UNESCO General Conference.

FAO: Extreme Weather and Forests

FAO has released a report titled "Abiotic Disturbances and their Influence on Forest Health," which highlights the increasing threat posed to the world's forests by extreme weather events. Recommendations include the use of adaptive forest management to protect forest resources against increasing abiotic disturbances, and calls for the use of strategies such as species diversification, windbreaks and mixed cropping patterns to enhance ecosystem resilience, as well as selective planting.

 

Biocultural Heritage Website

A new website draws on research by the International Institute for Environment and Devleopment (IIED), research partners and indigenous and local communities in Peru, Panama, Kenya, India and China to present biocultural strategies and methodologies for horizontal networking amongst marginalised communities; and emerging biocultural legal and policy frameworks. It provides guidance and downloadable resources for grassroots organisations, researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

Biocultural heritage includes a wealth of biological resources – from genetic to landscape level – and long standing traditions and practices for their sustainable use and adaptive management. It also describes the bundle of rights that support indigenous peoples and local communities – Traditional Resource Rights.