Ontario's Natural Heritage Areas - Ministry of Natural Resources

Legislation and Policy Basis
Each Biosphere Reserve falls under the sovereign
control and legislation of the sponsoring jurisdiction.
For example, the National Wildlife Act is the principal
legislation employed to protect the Long Point
Biosphere Reserve. In the Niagara Escarpment
Biosphere Reserve, the Niagara Escarpment Planning
and Development Act establishes a planning process
to ensure that the area is protected (see Section 6.14
on The Niagara Escarpment on page 259).
Protection Goal and/or Objectives
The long-term goal of the Man and Biosphere
Program is to create an international network of
Biosphere Reserves that collectively represent
Earth’s major ecosystems with different patterns of
human use and adaptations to them. Two important
objectives are to:
• Develop within the natural and social sciences
a basis for the rational use and conservation
of the resources of the biosphere and for the
improvement of the relationship between humans
and the ecosphere.
• Predict the consequences of today’s actions on
tomorrow’s world and thereby increase the ability
of humans to efficiently manage the natural
resources of the biosphere (IUCN, 1979).
Selection Criteria
To qualify as a Biosphere Reserve, an area should:
• Encompass a mosaic of ecological systems
representative of major biogeographic regions,
including a gradation of human interventions.
• Contain significant biological diversity and merit
special conservation.
• Provide an opportunity to explore and
demonstrate approaches to sustainable
development at a regional scale.
• Be large enough to serve the three functions of
Biosphere Reserves – conservation, development,
and logistical support.
Ontario’s Natural Heritage Areas 102
• Include the aforementioned functions through
Core Area, Buffer Zone, and Transition Area
zoning:
• Core Area: A Core Area is provided for
long-term protection according to the
conservation objectives of the Biosphere
Reserve program and is large enough to
meet these objectives.
• Buffer Zone: A Buffer Zone surrounds or is
contiguous to the Core Area in which only
activities compatible with the conservation
objectives can take place.
• Transition Area: Sustainable resource
management practices are promoted and
developed in an outer Transition Area
(UNESCO, 1997).
Management Objectives and/or Guidelines
Because the Biosphere Reserve program focuses on
the relationship between humans and the biosphere,
the major program objective is to establish a
combination of conservation and active use involving
research, education, and training (IUCN, 1979).
Biosphere Reserve management programs provide
for:
• The conservation of landscapes, ecosystems,
species, and genetic variation.
• Sustainable development by fostering economic
and human development which is socio-culturally
and ecologically sustainable.
• Logistical support for demonstration projects,
environmental education and training, research,
and monitoring related to local, regional,
national, and global issues of conservation and
sustainable development (UNESCO, 1997).
Image by P. Kor