GBA Update Fall 2024

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Biosphere reserves are ‘learning places for sustainable development.’ They are sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity. They are places that provide local solutions to global challenges…. Each site promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. UNESCO, World Network of Biosphere Reserves

NAMP work aims to contribute to a robust,

to shape development that supports biodiversity and other ecosystem services, using a wide variety of mechanisms, including updating zoning in Official Plans (e.g., Environmental Protection/ Environmentally Sensitive areas), land use planning, development permitting, infrastructure improvements and set-backs in floodplains, forest management, invasive species management, regional emergency management (e.g., evacuation plans for forest fires) along with best management practices and educational training. To follow the work of the UNESCO Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere, visit georgianbaybiosphere.com .

publicly-available mapping database

that will significantly improve the quality of information accessible for mapping, planning, habitat conservation, and managing climate change risks. Enhancement of natural asset management tools has been a long standing need among regional partners, identified in 2005 at the first conservation stakeholder meetings that led to the State of the Bay ecosystem

health reporting program. While geospatial data

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has greatly improved, the available open data for the UNESCO biosphere still exhibits several shortcomings, ranging from outdated information, inherent biases toward specific objectives or audiences, restricted spatial coverage, lack of floodplain/ecohydrology information, or insufficient precision of information. More recently, the GBB has been actively engaging in discussions with a diverse range of partners, including area governments and planners, to determine a way forward that meets collective needs. Collaboration has begun with the West Parry Sound Geography Network (WPSGN) and senior researchers at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo. Guided by an advisory committee of technical geomatic experts and key partners, the project will generate high quality spatial data and information and mobilize that knowledge through strategies, land-use planning, and other tools. It will provide a solid foundation to answer emerging questions, as well as a rigorous science based toolbox to support decision-making to inform policy, planning and management, research initiatives, and collaborative stewardship, including biodiversity conservation and climate resiliency. The NAMP approach aligns with existing standards and supports an improved geospatial database that can be updated on an ongoing basis. Communities within the UNESCO Biosphere will be better equipped

www.georgianbay.ca

GBA UPDATE Fall 2024

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