The Fourteenth Biosphere Reserve of Iran was approved by UNESCO on June 5, 2026, coinciding with World Environment Day, at a time when the country was still under the shadow of war and military aggression by the United States. The Dalankuh–Qamishlou region, located in Isfahan Province, with an area of approximately 875,000 hectares, featuring diverse mountainous and steppe ecosystems, is the country’s fourteenth biosphere reserve. This region is situated in the northwest of Isfahan Province and covers parts of the counties of Golpayegan, Khansar, Chadegan, Shahinshahr and Meymeh, Najafabad, Tiran and Karvan, Faridan, and Fereydunshahr. This reserve has been designed to enhance the performance of several protected areas and integrates Qamishlou National Park and Wildlife Refuge, Dalankuh Protected Area, and the Stobleh and Golestankuh no-hunting areas into a unified management framework. It is anticipated that this international designation will not only contribute to the protection of biodiversity and wildlife corridors but also generate significant economic opportunities, including the development of sustainable nature-based tourism and international branding for local products such as honey and medicinal plants.
With the registration of this area, the total extent of Iran's biosphere reserves has increased to over 690,000 hectares, raising the country's coverage percentage to approximately 4.2%. Although the designation of the fourteenth reserve, following an 11-year gap since the last Iranian biosphere reserve (Tang-e Sayad and Sabz Kuh in 2015), demonstrates the dedication of patriotic experts within the Department of Environment (DoE) and signifies successful environmental diplomacy, the social dimensions and attention to the benefits of ecosystem services in supporting the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities—and, in sum, the popularization of land stewardship—should not be overlooked by the responsible national authorities. This is a matter that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has also addressed after five decades by introducing the Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) approach. Indeed, we are now in an era where the concept of "Protection," which focuses on various forms of biodiversity (from genes to ecosystems), has become distinct from "Conservation," which concerns the balanced, consitent, and adaptive utilization of ecosystem service benefits, with various aspects of both being addressed within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) (2022). Within this framework, three concepts have been employed with precise and purposeful usage, which experts must handle with subtlety and precision in both the interpretation and translation of the document's provisions.
The first term is "Protection," whose mission is to safeguard biodiversity (at genetic, species, and habitat levels) against external threats. The second is "Conservation," whose mission is the wise and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystem services. The third is "Maintenance," whose mission is to preserve the current status and ensure the continuation of favorable conditions. If all three concepts are uniformly translated as "protection" (in Persian), many of the strategic and operational messages of this framework will be distorted and rendered ineffective.
UNESCO has so far published two strategic programs for the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program to guide the wise management of biosphere reserves across the world, which by 2026 numbered 797 reserves in 145 countries, covering approximately 7.5 million square kilometers. These programs provide a long-term framework for reconciling biodiversity conservation with sustainable development through the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). The first strategic program, entitled the "Lima Strategy and Action Plan," covered the period from 2016 to 2025. This document, adopted in 2015, established four main strategic objectives for a decade. The subsequent program, the "Hangzhou Strategic Program," is the latest MAB strategic framework, covering the period 2026–2035, which was adopted at the World Congress in 2025 in China. This program includes 34 operational objectives across three key areas.
The concept of "Living in Harmony with Nature" constitutes the core of the Hangzhou Strategic Action Plan. This document, built upon the achievements of five decades of experience within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) and drawing on the transformative assessment results of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), proposes a paradigm shift from a purely protectionist approach toward a transformative, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approach. This program is simultaneously aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and UNESCO's Medium-Term Strategy (2022–2029).
In this new perspective, biosphere reserves are defined not as protected islands isolated from human communities but as "living laboratories" for research and learning in the areas of ecological resilience, distributive justice, participation of vulnerable groups, and restoration of the human-nature relationship. Unlike traditional conservation models that often separated people from nature, the Hangzhou Program emphasizes the principle that humans are an inseparable part of the biosphere and that sustainability cannot be achieved without their active participation.

One of the most prominent innovations of the Hangzhou Action Plan is its systematic attention to social, legal, and cultural dimensions alongside ecological objectives. Ecosystem-based management, introduced in the Hangzhou Program as the operational core, is an integrated and adaptive approach that considers the entire reserve area (including core zones, buffer zones, and transition zones). Unlike traditional management focused on protective restrictions, ecosystem-based management in this program is founded on concepts such as habitat ptotection, ecological restoration, advanced monitoring and evaluation, and the synergy of science, culture, and education. Ecosystem-based management also requires that the livelihood needs of local communities (such as sustainable agriculture, nature tourism, and handicrafts) be addressed as part of the management plan, and that decisions be made not in a top-down manner but through participatory institutions with the representation of local people. The Hangzhou Program also emphasizes Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), in which even areas that are not officially designated as protected areas but are traditionally managed by Indigenous communities are formally recognized.
This program is, in essence, an ethical call to redefine the human-nature relationship, recognize the rights of marginalized communities, and move from top-down protection toward participatory and transparent governance. For Iran, which has been grappling with numerous environmental and social imbalances in recent years, adopting the principles of this program could be an effective step toward reducing conflicts, increasing social capital, and moving toward a development model in which neither nature is sacrificed for development nor people are victimized for conservation. Achieving this requires political will, sustainable financial resources, and, most importantly, a paradigm shift from "protection against people" to "protection by and for the people.".

Footnotes:
IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature
MAB: Man and the Biosphere
WNBR: World Network of Biosphere Reserves
IPBES: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals
KMGBF: Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
OECMs: Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures