Friday, September 21, 2007

"new" Bay of Fundy Biosphere Reserve

Exciting news from the Bay of Fundy today! The upper Bay of Fundy has just been designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The full region in New Brunswick stretches from the Tantramar marshes by the Nova Scotia border along through Fundy National Park and over to the Fundy Trail & St Martins.

Biosphere Reserves are areas of land and marine environments, which are internationally recognized by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation) Man and the Biosphere Program.

Biosphere Reserves promote and demonstrate a balance between people and nature. While Biosphere Reserves are not parks and don't have jurisdiction over land-management issues, they do serve to combine the four functions of conservation, sustainable economic development, community health, and support for research, education, and training.

It takes many years and tonnes of work to apply for such designation. Congrats to all who worked on the project (including my boss, Tom Young!)

Click here for the UNESCO site if you’d like to read more.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

this is excellent news, but what a pity that the Nova Scotian side of the upper Bay couldn't have learned to play nicely enough to have been included in this designation. It's sort of like declaring only one face of the mountains in Gros Morne as being a world heritage site.