The 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in east China

The 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves, the premier global conference under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program, opened on Monday in east China’s Hangzhou City, aiming to promote the sustainable development of humans and nature.

The five-day conference marked the first time the event had been staged in Asia and the largest in its history, bringing together approximately 4,000 delegates from more than 150 countries and regions.

The congress will release two key documents: the Hangzhou Strategic Action Plan for UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves (2026-2035), a landmark ten-year blueprint for the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and the Hangzhou Declaration, which affirms China’s commitment to working with the international community to address ecological challenges and to build “a shared future for humans and nature.”