The island has also just been added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) which now counts 553 sites in 107 countries.  The following explains what it all means.

Fuerteventura, Spain, is the second biggest island of the Canaries archipelago, close to the West African Coast. It includes a wide range of ecosystems from desert or semi-desert areas to coastal and marine habitats. While the island is characterized by a rich diversity of marine species, including dolphins and cachalots, as well as marine turtles that reproduce on its beaches, the biosphere reserve also represents one of the world’s major geopalentological observatories. Development of sustainable ecotourism is the major focus of the population living on the island. The island is also investing in the increase of its renewable energy capacity, mainly through wind-based and solar energy production, and is representing itself as one of the models for the implementation of the European Union’s Directive on Renewable Energy.

Biosphere Reserves are areas designated under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to serve as places to test different approaches to integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity. Biosphere Reserves are thus sites for experimenting with and learning about sustainable development, particularly during the on-going UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

Launched in the early 1970s, the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), proposes an interdisciplinary research agenda and capacity building, aimed at improving people’s relationship with their environment. It notably targets the ecological, social and economic dimensions of biodiversity loss and the reduction of this loss. It uses its World Network of Biosphere Reserves as vehicles for knowledge-sharing, research and monitoring, education and training, and participatory decision-making.