Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Biosphere reserves are ‘Science for Sustainability support sites’ – special places for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity. Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Their status is internationally recognized.
Reserves
The Philippines currently has three UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. The first Biosphere of the country was designated in 1977.
The Palawan Biosphere Reserve is the only biosphere reserve in the country that contains a Ramsar Wetland Site (Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park) and two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Tubbataha Reefs National Park and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park)
Ecological frontiers like Eastern Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Sibuyan island, Western Panay, the Sierra Madre, Southern Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, and the Cordilleras are theoretically capable of standing as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the future.
Albay is the latest to be added to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 2016.