UNESCO strives to promote sustainability through its programs on World Heritage and Biosphere Reserves. The latter are conceived as model areas in which diverse local actors are encouraged to collaborate, experiment, and learn together to address sustainability challenges. They provide fertile ground for trialing novel opportunities for innovative research approaches to participation and knowledge co-production for sustainability. For instance, the integrated approach in the Mono Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (MTBR) in West Africa has facilitated participatory management with the local communities. At the PECS III Conference in Montreal, I presented preliminary results from my doctoral research on how to enact positive environmental and social change through locally-led initiatives by indigenous and local people living in and around the MTBR.
