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The Alto Bernesga Foundation has developed this project, which aims to adapt the Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve in relation to compliance with the Lima Declaration and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Since 1971, UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme has been working to improve the relationship between people and the environment. Within the framework of this programme, Biosphere Reserves, areas belonging to terrestrial or coastal ecosystems proposed by the different Member States of UNESCO, are recognized at the international level.

The IV World Congress of Biosphere Reserves was held in March 2016 in Lima, Peru. As a result of this congress, the Lima Declaration and the Lima Action Plan for UNESCO's MAB Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves (2016-2025) were approved, which serves as a roadmap for the implementation of the MAB Strategy. A strategy that offers innovative options to advance in the conservation of biodiversity, the restoration and improvement of ecosystems and the promotion of the sustainable use of natural resources to mitigate the effects of climate change and the degradation of natural environments.

In this context, the initiative seeks to promote new tools for biodiversity conservation in the Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve.

The general objective of the project is the adaptation of the Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve in compliance with the Lima Declaration and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

The specific objectives are:

• Update the diagnosis of the current state of the Reserve, as a starting point for the establishment of priority programs, projects, and actions, as well as for the monitoring of future changes.
• Design a set of programmes and projects in line with the Lima Strategy and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Establish action strategies that facilitate the management of the Reserve, contemplating the participation of City Councils, regional and national organizations, universities, research entities, NGOs and the private sector.
• To promote the participation of the local population and socio-economic agents in the area in the preparation and implementation of the Action Plan for the Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve.
• Disseminate the new Action Plan among the local population and among other Biosphere Reserves that are part of the Spanish Network of Biosphere Reserves.

• Prior analysis and fieldwork for the adaptation of the Action Plan. Collection and updating of statistical data, demographic, socioeconomic and physical environment analyses of the Biosphere Reserve, and analysis to define the strategies and concrete actions to be carried out within the territory to update the Action Plan, which will be in force over the next few years (2020-2026).
  Its main axes are the protection and conservation of natural heritage, sustainable economic development, social cohesion of the territory, environmental knowledge and awareness and cooperation to adapt to the Lima Action Plan and the 2030 Agenda.
• Local participation as the basis of the Action Plan. Holding of territorial meetings with City Councils and neighbourhood councils, and sectoral meetings with livestock breeders, farmers and traders, among others, in order to share the actions to be developed in order to achieve the objectives set with the update of the Action Plan.
• Dissemination of the Action Plan and cooperation activities through the following materials and actions:
  - Informative brochure of the project
  -Posters
  - Action Plan of the Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve
  - Press campaign in local media
  - Web and social media outreach
  - Sending the Action Plan to the national and regional authorities
  - Sending of the Action Plan to the Biosphere Reserves of the Spanish Network of Biosphere Reserves) for the exchange of experiences
• Programme for the evaluation and monitoring of the Action Plan. A series of indicators have been established to assess and monitor the development and implementation of the new Action Plan, with the aim of assessing the situation before and after its implementation.

• The actions carried out have served to maintain and comply with the objective of drawing up a new Action Plan for the Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve, adapted to comply with the Lima Strategy and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The Alto Bernesga Foundation has drawn up this plan based on previous diagnostic work.
• The new Plan will allow sustainable management of the resources of the Biosphere Reserve, taking into account both the conservation of the natural heritage and the populations present and their productive activities, all with a view to complying with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.
• Holding of 7 meetings with social agents, City Councils and the economic sectors of the territory.