Regional Natural Parks Region SUD — Biosphere Reserves — Management Areas

Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions that reconcile the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. They are “support sites for science for sustainability” — special places to test interdisciplinary approaches to understand and manage changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and biodiversity management. The nomination of biosphere reserves is submitted by national governments and remains under the sovereign jurisdiction of the States in which they are located. Their status is internationally recognised There are 669 biosphere reserves in 120 countries, including 20 transboundary sites. In Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, 3 Parks are affected by biosphere reserves: the Camargue, the Luberon and the Queyras. Each biosphere reserve is divided into a management area: * **the central areas** consist of territories covered by a state protection measure to which may be added spaces considered exceptional by managers. * **the buffer areas** consist of natural or agricultural spaces. * **cooperation areas** are composed, within the envelope of the Biosphere Reserve, of all the territories where most economic and social activities develop.