In 2011, the biennial EuroMAB conference was hosted in Sweden at the Lake Vänern Archipelago Biosphere Reserve. The Conference brought together the EuroMAB network including representatives from biosphere reserves and the MAB National Committees from Europe and North America.

Our Contribution to EuroMAB 2011

Colin Campbell, Assist Social Capital CIC, was invited to present in three workshops on 

social entrepreneurship, 

social capital, and 

sustainable public procurement.

The purpose of the workshop of social entrepreneurship was to introduce the concept to the MAB community, to visualise the link between biosphere reserve values and social entrepreneurship as a means for sustainable development in biosphere reserves; i.e. to support human well-being and ecological resilience by connecting biosphere and social entrepreneurship bringing together unique resources and opportunities that exist within biosphere reserves around the world. This workshop was the first step towards building knowledge and creating a learning platform towards social entrepreneurship in biosphere reserves.

Outcomes

• Further development of the idea:

A significant outcome was the opportunity to work with Lac St-Pierre Reserve in Quebec and the UNEP Sustainable Public Procurement Initiative on a plan to develop this topic further and the aim to hold a more specific workshop at EuroMAB 2013 in Canada.

• Development of a Framework Document

This together with our work on social capital to deliver sustainable economic development with our partners in Sri Lanka led us to apply for the Scottish Government's International Social Enterprise Programme. The application was successful and we are grateful for the support. As a result, in 2012 ASC started to produce a ‘Framework for Development of Social Enterprise in Biosphere Reserves' with the support of members of the Social Enterprise and Biosphere Reserve working group. The framework was launched at EuroMAB 2013... 

Read the complete EuroMAB 2011 conference report here...