ABSTRACT
This chapter describes key ideas that shaped the formation of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme and biosphere reserves, demonstrating conceptual links to contemporary ideas of sustainability science. The chapter also considers how biosphere reserves were implemented in the early years of the MAB Programme up to the mid-1990s. This period marks the establishment of “first generation” biosphere reserves that were created before the adoption of the Statutory Framework and the Seville Strategy in 1995. In the formative years, from 1974 to 1995, four key themes emerged that foreshadow those in research and practices of sustainability science and sustainability-in-practice in the twenty-first century. These themes are: problem-driven research, interdisciplinary scholarship, partnerships, and learning. The historical review reveals that these ideals were embedded in the establishment of biosphere reserves and yet, how challenges to implementing these ideals have endured.
