-The event marked the first meeting of the Thematic Networks after the official launch of the Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves Thematic Network MedMaB last June.
24 November 2023. The Abertis Foundation has hosted the first UNESCO Thematic Networks Meeting at its headquarters, Castellet Castle, which also houses the International Centre for Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves. The event was attended by the president of the Abertis Foundation, Elena Salgado, and Antonio Abreu, director of UNESCO's Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences.
The event marked the first meeting of UNESCO's Thematic Networks after last June's official launch of the MedMaB Thematic Network of Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves, the third approved worldwide. This MedMaB Network coordinates the work carried out by the biosphere reserves of the Mediterranean sea countries and is tackling the current environmental challenges posed by climate change and the loss of biodiversity. The UNESCO's two existing thematic networks, namely the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves and the World Network of Mountain Biosphere Reserves, also took part in the event.
Throughout the meeting, participants discussed the importance of UNESCO's thematic networks in the current context of global change and climate emergency, and how to further coordination between regional networks. Biosphere Reserves are areas consisting of terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems, which are recognised by the United Nations' People and Biosphere Programme (MaB), and which promote solutions to reconcile biodiversity conservation with economic development.
Since 2014, the Abertis Foundation's headquarters has housed the International Centre for Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves under the auspices of UNESCO, and a pioneering model of public-private partnership within the scope of UNESCO's MAB Programme. The centre has an ambitious programme involving scientific and dissemination activities linked to the network, coordinated by the Centre for Forest Science and Technology of Catalonia (CTFC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
About the Abertis Foundation
The Abertis Foundation was founded in 1999 as a non-profit entity, with the mission of contributing to the sustainable development of the regions and countries where the Abertis Group operates. In recent years, the Abertis Foundation has managed to disseminate culture in the territories where it operates by showing the public works of great Spanish artists such as Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Diego Velázquez and Antoni Gaudí in countries such as France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and India.
Its other areas of action are rolling out road safety improvement projects; social outreach work to help the most disadvantaged groups; environmental protection, thanks to the agreement with UNESCO to run the International Category 2 Centre for Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves (UNESCOMED); as well as education, through an International Network of Abertis Chairs that includes universities in some of the countries where it is present, such as Spain, France, Puerto Rico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Mexico, and which brings together universities and companies in a search for innovation in sustainable mobility.
26 November 2025
•This new agreement between Abertis Foundation and the Spanish National Parks Agency (OAPN in its Spanish acronym)—a Spanish public body under the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO)—ensures the continued operation of the UNESCO-endorsed International Centre. The renewed partnership strengthens cooperation and knowledge exchange among Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves.
•The agreement aims to foster research initiatives, training programmes, pilot projects and outreach activities that advance the sustainability of Mediterranean ecosystems and enhance the resilience of biosphere reserves in the face of climate change.
•The renewal consolidates the role of the Abertis Foundation's headquarters at Castellet Castle as a leading hub for biosphere reserve activities, both within the Mediterranean region and internationally.
25 November 2022
The headquarters of the Abertis Foundation, Castellet Castle, the UNESCO International Centre forMediterranean Biosphere Reserves, hosted the 3rd Meeting of MediterraneanBiosphere Reserve Managers on 23, 24 and 25 November.
