People and Nature: Better Together

What would you call a place where people were inspired to live and work in harmony with nature?  A place where they worked to create sustainable jobs, clean energy and to support biodiversity ?  A place that used current science, traditional knowledge and global sharing to make life better for people and for nature?    You might like to visit such a place.  You might already live in such a place without knowing it.

I discovered that I live part of the time in one of these UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) Biosphere Reserves while watching a documentary series called Striking Balance on TVO.  Striking Balance tells the stories of eight such areas in Canada.  They are areas designated by UNESCO that find “creative and effective ways for people and nature to thrive together.”  says the narrator of an informative video describing this work. 

There is no legal authority making people do this and the reserves are not strictly about nature preservation.  This is about people deciding that they want to work together with each other and with nature, that they are better together than apart. According to the UNESCO website they are ”an area in the world which is deemed to demonstrate a balanced relationship between humans and the biosphere.”

Striking Balance  is a series of 8 fifty-minute documentaries which are available on DVD or they can be viewed on the TVO website  or on TVO for a limited time.  I have watched two episodes so far.  In Episode 5 on the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve (where it turns out I live part time), the people in the reserve are trying to balance an increase in cottagers, the expansion of a major highway and the protection of endangered turtles and the Massassaga Rattlesnake which is a threatened species.  The Magnetawan First Nation within the Biosphere Reserve hired biologists to conduct a survey of Massassauga Rattlesnakes  on their land. Members of the First Nation report sightings of turtles and snakes as well.  

Biologists catch Massassaga Rattlesnakes on Magnetawan First Nation

The new widened Highway 69 will have animal corridors underneath it and will be fenced to protect wildlife from coming onto the road creating one of the safest roads for wildlife.  A biologist was brought in to study the winter hibernation area of about 100 rattlesnakes which would be disturbed by the new highway.  Those involved are looking for the best way to protect the snakes. The people on Magnetawan First Nation tell the story of how traditionally the rattlesnakes protected certain areas of blueberries.  People knew not to pick in those areas, to avoid the snakes.  This allowed the blueberries to drop their fruit containing seeds so that more plants could grow.  They feel that the rattlesnakes are once again protecting the land.  This traditional knowledge and respect partnered with biologist’s findings are both important in this model.

Oyster farming in Bras d'Or Lake

In the Bras d`Or Lake Biosphere in Nova Scotia, coal mining and steel production has come to an end and oyster farming was seen as a sustainable alternative for work.  However, a parasite destroyed much of the oyster population.  Both traditional Mi`kmaq knowledge and current science are being used to save the oysters.  In Quebec, Mont Saint-Hilaire`s old-growth forest and glacial lake are loved by the communities around it but they must balance growth to protect it.  In Clayoquot Sound, BC, communities deal with conflict over logging by looking to the past to learn how to help the environment, cultures and economies to thrive well into the future.  Redberry is a salt lake in Saskatchewan where the community is part of social and scientific experiments as it tries to thrive while being threatened by industrial agriculture.  In the Bay of Fundy, people are working to bring back the Atlantic Salmon which is on the edge of extinction. And in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve, in Alberta, ranchers find new ways to coexist with grizzly bears.  The series tells the stories of 8 of Canada`s 18 biosphere reserves.

 

Atlantic Salmon in the Bay of Fundy Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO first started the Man and Biosphere Programme in 1971.  There are now 669 sites in 120 countries.  The members can and do share ideas with each other.  The benefits of living in a biosphere reserve are many.  There is increased recognition of the community to attract people including tourists to the area, the promotion of sustainable economic development, support for groups already working in this way, improved relationships with First Nations and their knowledge of the land, and greater access to information and funding.  For those living in Canada’s Biosphere Reserves,” the environment is only healthy if human communities and the ecosystems that sustain them are both thriving - today, and for hundreds of years to come.”(TVO) 

 

Waterton Biosphere Reserve in Alberta

I was surprised to discover  that I lived on the edge of one of these biospheres for part of each week.  I had seen the signs posted and had probably visited a booth describing the reserve at some festivals  and possibly looked at the literature, but I didn't “get it”.  However, in watching the videos and hearing the stories of some of the people who were part of the UNESCO program, I started to get interested.  That is the importance of stories.  

There are two images that stay with me from the Georgian Bay episode.  One is of two young biologists catching rattlesnakes with a snake stick and carefully measuring them in a clear tube, to take an inventory on Magnetawan First Nation.  The other is of an Indigenous elder patrolling the side of the highway on his scooter, dog at his side, looking for wounded or dead turtles and snakes day after day.  

Redberry Lake, Saskatchewan

These biospheres are “proof that a sustainable way of living is not only possible but is already happening.”  In the trailer for the series, one man says, “I hope that living in a biosphere reserve will give people a sense of being a part of something that the future of the planet is going to depend on.”  I am going to see if there is a way for me to take part in the Georgian Bay one.  And I am looking forward to watching the other episodes.  Check them out.  You might end up feeling hopeful!