NRP 05+ "Man and Biosphere (MAB)"

MAB was a UNESCO interdisciplinary research programme which was concerned with considering Man and Biosphere issues according to the sustainability and resilience of the area and the balance between the ecosystem and human activity. Of the fourteen projects that covered all of the major inhabited regions of the planet, Switzerland decided to work on Mountain Programme 6 "Man’s impact on mountain ecosystems". Consequently, the Swiss National Science Foundation took on this programme under the title “Socio-economic development and ecological resilience in mountain regions” (NRP 05+). The aim was to uncover the links between economic activities, land usage and ecosystems in selected regions (Grindelwald, Pays-d’Enhaut, Aletsch, Davos) and record those processes that call into question the longterm securing of mountain regions as areas for living, working and recreation.

Final report

Messerli Paul, Mensch und Natur im alpinen Lebensraum: Risiken, Chancen, Perspektiven. Zentrale Erkenntnisse aus dem schweizerischen MAB-Programm, Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern, 1989