Norma Torres: “Mr. Speaker, let us really understand here what we are talking about when we say biosphere reserve. It is a term…”

“Mr. Speaker, let us really understand here what we are talking about when we say biosphere reserve. It is a term denoting an area that has been nominated by the locality and the country in which it is located for participation in the worldwide biosphere reserve program under what is called the U.S. Man in the Biosphere program. It is a program that is administered worldwide, if you will, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. We have heard it batted around here as UNESCO. Areas are nominated and recognized on the basis of their significance for research and the study of representative biological regions of the world. The United States has 47 such reserve regions. It is part of a worldwide network of 324 biosphere reserves in 82 countries in the globe. Biosphere reserve recognition does not convey any control or its jurisdiction over such sites to the United Nations or any other entity. The United States and/or State and local communities where biosphere reserves are located continue to exercise the same jurisdiction in place as before designation. Areas are listed only at the request of the country in which they are located, and they can be removed from the biosphere reserve list at any time upon the request of the country.”