SUSTAINABILITY ARTICLE SERIES:

Education, Youth and the Biosphere

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first designation of biosphere reserves. In 1976, a global network of biosphere reserves was initiated by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to recognize regions that have demonstrated innovated approaches to conservation and sustainable development.

Many visitors to our region wander the beaches and fjords of Clayoquot Sound without realizing that they are paddling, surfing and lounging in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve was designated six years ago in recognition of the region’s desire to achieve a balance between people and nature.

Today, there are 482 reserves around the world. Each reserve has Core Areas that are large enough and have sufficient protection to sustain native biodiversity. Adjacent to the Core Areas lie Buffer Zones, which are intended to protect the integrity of the core by only allowing limited human activities. The town of Tofino, BC is located in the Transition Zone, where the model suggests we conduct activities that are in accordance with sustainable development.

The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve is about 850,000 acres, and is Canada’s only biosphere reserve that encompasses both marine and terrestrial environments. The reserve was designated six years ago to help us deal with one of the most important questions of our time: How can we effectively maintain native biodiversity and manage ecosystems within the framework of sustainable development?
In order to encourage answers to this question, the United Nations has set aside this decade as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014). We are in the second year of the DESD and as luck would have it, biosphere reserves are specifically targeted as demonstration sites for educational projects during the DESD.
The intent of these educational projects is to incorporate the themes of sustainable development, which are the same as the key goals of biosphere reserves:

• Reduce biodiversity loss
• Improve livelihoods
• Enhance social, economic and cultural conditions for environmental sustainability

The non-profit Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation is currently developing an educational project that will help educate youth about how we can attain these goals. The Youth and the Biosphere (YAB) Pilot Programme will bring local youth from the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Region communities together with youth from other regions for 6-day “Sustainability Camps”.

Encouraged by David Suzuki’s recent visit to Tofino, the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation is developing the YAB Pilot Programme within the framework of Sustainability within a Generation. The concept of Sustainability within a Generation was developed by the David Suzuki Foundation with a goal to “make Canada a world leader in sustainability by 2030.” The idea concentrates on achieving nine critical goals in the next 30 years that will move Canada towards a “prosperous, just and sustainable future.”

The YAB Programme will blend hands-on activities, community service, and classroom work to teach the nine critical goals to achieve Sustainability within a Generation. For example, students will work on a beach clean-up while learning about toxins and hazards that are regularly discharged into the ocean. Some of the found objects will get collected and used for further discussion about consumption and pollution back in the classroom. The next day the students will design and build found art sculptures with a local artist to reinforce everything that was discussed the day before.

Creating educational programmes and facilities is one of the most effective ways that Tofino can develop ideas and take action towards the sustainable development and conservation goals that the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve is mandated to implement. If you’d like to discuss issues that you think are important aspects of living in the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation is hosting a series of informal discussion groups about the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve. All are welcome to attend at the Clayoquot Field Station, beginning on June 14th at 7:30pm.

The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation will be developing a series of columns for Tofino Time to discuss education, sustainable development, conservation and other important aspects of living within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. For more information check out their website: www.tbgf.org

Clayoquot Sound is part of an international network of Biosphere Reserves with a mandate for research and education, and sharing information on issues of conservation and development in various places around the world.

Find out how your group can stay at the Clayoquot Field Station...

There are 425 Biosphere Reserves around the world. At the time of its designation, Clayoquot Sound was the 11th Biosphere Reserve in Canada, and the first in British Columbia.