The Isle of Man has 167 ’biosphere partners’ to help build towards a sustainable future for the island.

Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot revealed the figure in the House of Keys last week.

The Isle of Man has Unesco Biosphere status and is running a partnership scheme that encourages organisations to contribute. Those that do sign up to a six-part pledge, although they are not required to fulfil all aspects of the pledge.

Mr Boot said: ’To date, Unesco Biosphere Isle of Man has 167 partners across five categories: environment and culture, community, education, business and government.’

Others had expressed an interest.

By taking part, organisations were demonstrating ’their commitment to the island’s environment, economy, community, culture and heritage’, said the minister.

’Partners pledge to protect our natural resources, develop our economy in a sustainable way, support and promote our cultural heritage, make a positive environmental impact, engage with the local community, and promote our outstanding living landscape and seascape.’

Many businesses used the biosphere partnership to promote themselves and the island’s biosphere status both locally and off-island.

Mr Boot was responding to a question tabled by Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew), who described the number of partners as ’incredible’.

The Isle of Man was awarded Unesco Biosphere status in 2016. It is the only entire nation to be given such status and means the island is regarded as a special place for humans and nature to co-exist.

What is a biosphere?

Unesco’s definition:

Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.

Biosphere reserves are ’Science for Sustainability support sites’ - special places for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity.

Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Their status is internationally recognized.

There are 686 biosphere reserves in 122 countries, including 20 transboundary sites.