Background: Initiated in 1971, the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) seeks to establish a scientific basis for strengthening the relationship between humans and the environment, recognizing humanity as an integral part of nature. Its core vehicle, the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, has expanded to 785 reserves across 142 countries. Following the momentum of four world congresses held in Minsk, Seville, Madrid, and Lima, the Hangzhou Action Plan emerged. 

Methods & Results: This paper systematically elaborates on the evolution of the Man and the Biosphere Programme and provides an interpretation of its latest UNESCO MAB Hangzhou Strategic Action Plan. The Plan is structured around three parts: background, action targets, and monitoring and evaluation. Its main body contains 34 action targets focusing on three key areas: supporting global environmental protection and sustainable development agendas, strengthening the construction and development of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and advancing toward a sustainable future for humanity. Action Targets 1–13 translate global commitments—including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework—into local action by safeguarding ecosystem integrity, expanding ecological restoration, and ensuring species and genetic diversity. Action Targets 14–26 reinforce the institutional, financial, and social foundations of the network through resource mobilization, inclusive governance, knowledge sharing, and international cooperation. Finally, Action Targets 27–34 focus on strengthening scientific research, adaptive governance, and global collaboration, ensuring that biosphere reserves serve as engines of innovation and education worldwide. Compared with the Madrid Action Plan and the Lima Action Plan, the Hangzhou Action Plan demonstrates stronger integration with global frameworks, places greater emphasis on equity, rights, and operational feasibility, and highlights financing and partnerships as core pillars. Despite challenges such as balancing conservation and development, addressing climate change, and coping with uneven resources, the Plan points the way toward a sustainable future of harmony between people and nature through enhanced partnerships, mainstreaming climate adaptation strategies, and promoting digital transformation.

Background: The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), established under the framework of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme  (MAB), plays a key role in linking biodiversity conservation with sustainable development. However, the ecological representativeness and conservation effectiveness of the network remain uneven across the Global South and the Global North. Existing knowledge gaps persist in systematically comparing their performance in habitat protection and spatial coverage of priority biodiversity areas. This study provided a global assessment of the ecological outcomes and spatial representativeness of 759 biosphere reserves, with a particular focus on South–North differences. 

Results: Analysis of habitat quality data from 1992 to 2020 and three global conservation priority layers—Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs), and Centres of Plant Diversity (CPDs)—show that although habitat quality has generally declined over the past three decades, the rate of decline has slowed in the past ten years. Habitat conditions in the Global North have remained more stable and at higher levels than those in the Global South. The coverage of KBAs, EBAs, and CPDs by biosphere reserves reached 11.91%, 9.76%, and 9.52%, respectively, all notably higher than the expected random coverage of 4.83%. 

Problems & Prospects: Despite these positive signals, significant spatial gaps persist in ecologically critical regions—such as tropical mountains and islands—particularly within the Global South. These disparities highlight structural imbalances in monitoring capacity, conservation financing, and institutional support between the Global North and South. Looking ahead, building a more representative, equitable, and adaptive global conservation framework will depend on addressing these South–North differences and advancing the collaborative potential of the WNBR.

Background & Aims: World Biosphere Reserves are designated demonstration areas to promote a balanced relationship between humans and the biosphere, exploring pathways for harmonious coexistence between human societies and natural ecosystems. China currently has 34 World Biosphere Reserves. However, there remains a lack of comprehensive and systematic research at the national level regarding how these reserves can effectively drive the coordinated development of human society and ecological conservation. Additionally, it is unclear whether the logistic support functions of protected areas contribute meaningfully to fostering sustainable human–nature relationships within these reserves.

Methods: This study integrated comprehensive spatial data from all 34 World Biosphere Reserves in China and their associated protected areas. By combining human footprint indicators, ecological remote sensing datasets to calculate ecosystem quality index, as well as trend detection methods including Theil-Sen Median slope estimation and Mann-Kendall analysis, we evaluated the relationship between human social development and natural ecological protection at a 1 km × 1 km pixel resolution within these reserves.

Results: Linear regression results indicated that ecosystem quality across China’s 34 World Biosphere Reserves increased from 2010 to 2020, although the trend was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In contrast, human footprint exhibited a statistically significant upward trend during the same period (P < 0.05). Within these reserves, 10% of the pixel units demonstrated significant changes in human–nature relationships, with coordination interactions accounting for the largest proportion (72.2%), particularly evident in seven reserves including Jinggangshan and Bogda, etc. Furthermore, a lower coverage ratio of protected areas within a World Biosphere Reserve, a larger total area of the World Biosphere Reserve, and a longer duration since its designation as a World Biosphere Reserve are all associated with enhanced coordination between human development and ecological conservation.

Aims: In September 2025, the 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will take place in Hangzhou, China. The decadal Congress will establish a new global action plan for the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), namely “Hangzhou Strategic Action Plan”, to re-anchor the mission of MAB in addressing global challenges in biodiversity and sustainable development, and to specify the roles of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). This article aims to provide insight on the relevance of MAB’s mission and offer suggestions for future actions, as complementary input toward the global preparation of this strategic MAB document. 

Methods: The priorities for action are identified on the author’s long-term involvement in MAB and WNBR since early 1990s, through direct experience in developing MAB research projects, thematic and regional biosphere networks and the formulation of global strategic plans in UNESCO. Consideration is given to the needs and challenges in established global biodiversity and sustainable development agreements where MAB and WNBR may make contribution. 

Results: The article outlines the current main difficulties encountered in global biodiversity and sustainability agenda, including the stagnation in many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and provides views on the main underlying causes. It recalls the initial mission setting of MAB and stresses the historical responsibility of MAB as a long-standing intergovernmental scientific programme to drive change and enable progress. The MAB community must stand on the front to address global challenges and be scientifically inspiring and institutionally dynamic. Arrangements should be made to call and review, on a routine basis, the most pertinent scientific questions for MAB and WNBR, in order to build new consensus for cooperation. The article further suggests six areas for new MAB research and action: (1) biosphere integrity and resilience; (2) studies on interactions between biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and social sciences, building on UNESCO’s parallel long-term scientific programmes; (3) the components in biosphere so far less studied but may potentially be more significant especially in connection with climate change and social economic development; (4) ecosystem restoration, natural recovery and ecological reconstruction; (5) green economies and sustainable livelihoods for communities living within and around biosphere reserves; (6) the development of digital twin of biosphere as new platform for future scientific research, assessment, monitoring and for design and simulation of various management scenarios for WNBR sites. The need for the MAB Programme and WNBR to further enhance its partnership is discussed, particularly concerning the partnership with relevant international conventions and programmes, with the science programmes of UNESCO. It further calls for attention regarding partnership with local governance mechanisms where Biosphere Reserves are located, as such partnership is currently weak but critical for MAB and WNBR to become effectively connected to the diverse and real national and local development contexts. 

Conclusions: Amid growing global challenges, the MAB Programme plays a vital role in advancing sustainability. Despite progress in research and actions, biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and climate change remain critical. The WNBR provides model sites for learning and testing sustainable development strategies and should be considered as a global infrastructure for sustainability. Future priorities for MAB and WNBR include enhancing interdisciplinary research on biosphere integrity and resilience, Earth system interactions, ecological restoration, green economy, and digital biosphere technologies. Strengthening partnerships with multilateral environmental agreements and UNESCO’s science programeas is essential. A much-improved engagement with local governments through structured dialogue mechanisms can support place-based conservation and development. At this pivotal moment of history, MAB must mobilize global scientific capacities and policy networks to harmonize the relations of humans and the biosphere.