First AfriMAB Technical Workshop for Francophone African Countries

Abstract

1. In the past 20 years, the world has been swamped with reports, action plans and recommendations aimed at curing the ills afflicting our planet. International conferences, environmental campaigns and scientific studies have all advocated precautionary measures and remedies. 2. Humanity must take account of the amount of pressure the Earth can stand, and adopt lifestyles and development methods that respect nature’s limitations, without necessarily having to forgo the benefits of modem technologies. 3. Biosphere reserves are designed to respond to this dilemma. Their effectiveness hinges on synergy between scientists, conservation and development groups, management authorities and local communities. Such requirements are confirmed by the principles of sustainable development, which also underpin the relevant Conventions - on Biological Diversity, to Combat Desertification, on Climate Change and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 4. Biosphere reserves continue to be ideal experimentation sites for the conservation and sustainable management of our environment. It was to boost their ability to promote such a tool that the MAB National Committees and biosphere reserve managers gathered in Dakar (Senegal) in October 1996, and created the AfriMAB Network. 5. The first Technical Workshop for Francophone African Countries to be staged within the framework of the AfriMAB Network sought to explore specific issues involved in implementing the Seville Strategy, and to set an agenda of activities for the following two years.