In 1972, just one year after the start of the MAB programme, the Austrian National MAB Committee was established at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), based on an agreement with the federal ministry of science and research and charged with the task of controlling and coordinating MAB research. Austria is one of the first nations to get involved in the MAB programme. The National Committee is made up of acclaimed scientists, plus representatives of ministries, federal land organizations, the Austrian UNESCO Commission and NGOs, and was endowed with a separate research budget from the start. This budget allows the Committee not just to identify research gaps, but to fill them with appropriate research projects. The National Committee monitors Austrian research, analyses research needs, formulates new research strategies and stimulates as well as funds research projects. Overall, the MAB National Committee, which is unique in the world for having its own research budget, has funded countless research projects in the four decades of its existence. The National Committee advises and supports BR managements on scientific and technical issues and provides the link to the MAB Secretariat in Paris. It is also responsible for any submission to UNESCO of an area as a biosphere reserve as well as for enforcing the UNESCO standards.

 

Members of the Austrian MAB National Committee

Function

Name

Institution

Chair

Univ. Prof. DI Dr. Marianne Penker

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences

Vice Chair

Assoc. Prof. DI Dr. Arne Arnberger

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences

Delegate to the MAB International Coordinating Council

Mag. Dr. Günter Köck

Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck

Honorary member

em. Univ. Prof. Dr. Georg Grabherr

University of Vienna

Members

em. Univ. Prof. Dr. Marina Fischer-Kowalski

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences

Univ. Prof. Dr. Norbert Weixlbaumer

University of Vienna

Univ. Prof. Dr. Sigrid Stagl

University of Economics and Business

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Franz Essl University of Vienna

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Elisabeth Haring

Natural History Museum Vienna

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Harald Pauli

Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research (Innsbruck) and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences

Mag. Patrizia Jankovic Austrian Commission for UNESCO

Prof. MMag. Dr. Volker Mauerhofer

Mid Sweden University (Östersund, Sweden)

Mag. Ernst-Peter Brezovsky

Ministry of Europe, Integration and International Affairs

Dr. Karolina Begusch-Pfefferkorn

Ministry of Education, Science and Research

Dr. Helmut Kudronvsky

Environmental Agency Austria

DI Maximilian Albrecht

Austrian Federal Provinces

DI Arno Mohl

World Wildlife Fund for Nature