© Hana Prosser/Pro-Sud

Over the weekend of the 24^th-27^th September, just over 50 young participants had the pleasure to attend the 2nd edition of the MAB Youth Forum focused on the German speaking world. The participants, all stemming from or actively involved in biospheres within Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria, enjoyed 4 beautiful sunny days at the forums chosen location at the Hofgut Hopfenburg in the UNESCO Schwäbische Alb Biosphere Reserve.

The location of the forum

© Hana Prosser/Pro-Sud

The Schwäbische Alb Biosphere Reserve, founded in 2008, is a distinct natural region impregnated with a rich urban area along with a long agricultural and military training history. Agricultural practices have since become more limited and in 3 years prior to the founding of the biosphere region, all military training has ceased. The landscapes previously dedicated to these activities have now become key areas of the biosphere and now make up precious and biodiverse grasslands, complementing the forested areas also included within the reserve.

The current focus of the Schwäbische Alb Biosphere is to promote the sustainable maintenance of both natural areas and human activities. The gorgeous and impressive grounds of the ‘Man and Biosphere’ (MAB) focused cultural grounds of the Hofgut Hopfenburg are a perfect example of harmonious human engagement with nature. During the forum, the founders highlighted the wealth that their projects have brought to the region, whether that be through their support of regional products for their culinary offerings or their repurposing of wood for their main meeting hall and their intention to recycle greywater for their sanitary units. Still, the Hofgut Hopfenburg team and other key stakeholders of the Schwäbische Alb Biosphere were very transparent about the lacking youth participation in the reserve. Thus, the Schwäbische Alb proved to be a perfect location for youth to knock heads and to brainstorm strategies to improve this lack of engagement.

 © Hana Prosser/Pro-Sud

The programme of the forum

The agenda of the MAB Youth Forum was packed to the brim with activities, with a main focus on youth ‘Parti*cipation’ in biospheres. The first evening was used to welcome all the participants to the forum and gave them the chance to warm up to each other over a dinner, and a warming bonfire.

On the 2^nd day, participants were presented with an interactive panel discussion with representatives from diverse youth and environmental organisations. The focus being to introduce and to discuss the strategies and value of building synergies between complementary youth groups. After lunch, followed an excursion to a local sheep farm run by the Mackensen family, who are active in a celebrated MAB orientated business, ‘Albgemacht’, who produce cheese, apple juice and other local sourced produce. Before the 2^nd day came to an end and the group rocked out to the music of the local band, Daily Journal, the participants started the important work of brainstorming what they believed to be crucial issues that still need to be implemented in biospheres to ensure youth engagement.

© Hana Prosser/Pro-Sud

The 3^rd day was marked by a hiking excursion to one of the core areas of the Schwäbische Alb. The excursion, lead by the one of the head rangers of the reserve, gave the participants of the forum an intriguing insight into the management of an area previously used as a military training ground. It was a good example of how natural areas can be heavily influenced by human activity, yet that biodiversity and human activity do not have to be mutually exclusive. Indeed, the grasslands where troops previously shot at targets are now actively managed and maintained to be kept as they were 100 years ago when this military activity was still rife. The explanation for this being that the grasslands harbour a great diversity of insects and bird species that would otherwise cease to exist if trees were to grow, and forests were to take over the landscape (similar to the conserved dry grasslands in the Minett region!). Back from the excursion the groups energy was funnelled back into creating a concrete list of propositions for improved youth engagement in biospheres.

 

© Hana Prosser/Pro-Sud

On the 4^th and final day, time came to present these demands to the major, politicians and the invited press. The 15 propositions (listed below) were enthusiastically acknowledged by the aforementioned stakeholders with the agreement that they should be implemented in the near future.

With this the 2^nd German speaking MAB Youth Forum came to an end and time will tell of its success. In the eyes of the participants, who were given the perfect opportunity to engage and exchange with other interested and passionate youth, the forum was nothing short of a great success! All look forward to the next chance to meet and continue the campaign for further celebration of youth involvement in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves.

The 15 demands for improved youth engagement:

• We demand that schools create more opportunities for youth initiatives, such as working groups and practical assignments. The above should be conveyed to every child, particularly if they grow up in a biosphere reserve. This requires opportunities in and outside the school (e.g., student calendar with concrete information and events.) Together with this we call for the examination of nature/environmental protection and biosphere reserves in institutional educational institutions as well as the integration into the school curriculum.
• We demand commitment so that young people’s ideas are implemented.
• We need more independent youth and adult groups and for this we need to improve existing structures and transparency.
• We want to build up national and international youth networks. Within this framework, exchange programs and youth camps are to be created.
• We call for support for young people to start their careers in the nature conservation sector, e.g., by supporting internships and expanding jobs.
• We want an expansion and discounts of public transport in biosphere reserves (BR) for involved people e.g., on weekends, evenings.
• We demand encounters between youth and other stakeholders to be carried out at the same eye level and that we are taken seriously.
• We demand that at least one representative of the youth sit on decision-making bodies and for this we also need youth committees in biosphere areas.
• We need attractive activities for young people (e.g. concerts, film festivals), fixed groups and holiday programs (camps). It is important that there are also low-threshold offers.
• We would like to have young and easy-to-reach contact persons in relevant biosphere committees for youth participation.
• We call for a strong public relations and social media presence of the biosphere reserves in order to draw attention to opportunities for volunteering and to the BR in general. For this purpose, who are in the public eye and act as contact persons must be appointed.
• We need meeting spaces in BR for young people and demand that they are easily accessible and that youth groups receive financial organizational support.
• We demand the initiation of idea workshops with young people.
• We want the opportunity to take on one-off and regular tasks or offices and thus responsibility in biosphere reserves.
• We demand/need financial support for the implementation of concrete projects by and with young people.