Research in protected areas funded by the Austrian National Committee for UNESCO's 'Man and the Biosphere' programme
Günter Köck, MAB National Commitee, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (AT)
The Austrian Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme is financed by the Ministry for Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW) and administered by a National Committee established at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). The MAB Committee, responsible for Austrian biosphere reserves (BRs), was endowed with a separate research budget from its start in the year 1973. This budget allows the Committee not just to identify research gaps in BRs but to fill them with appropriate research projects. Overall, the Committee, has funded countless research projects in the four decades of its existence.