Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere Host Swedish EU Partners

That the Parliament congratulates the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire (GSA) UNESCO Biosphere for conducting its first in-person international exchange since before the COVID-19 pandemic, by hosting two co-ordinators from the Swedish Biosphere, which has seven biosphere reserves and, like the GSA Biosphere, engages in conservation across protected areas, promotes nature-friendly farming, and works with the public and private sector towards carbon reduction goals to work to tackle the twin global climate and biodiversity crises; understands that the two-day on-site and discussion programme included a journey along the GSA Biosphere’s western coast to Girvan in South Ayrshire, and that, while in Galloway, the delegation met with the Glentrool and Bargrennan Community Trust at the Glentrool Hive, took a tour at Kitchen Coos and Ewes in New Luce, and visited the Cairnsmore of Fleet National Nature Reserve and the Gatehouse Development Initiative in Gatehouse of Fleet; appreciates the comments of Johanna MacTaggart, national co-ordinator of the Swedish Man and Biosphere Programme, when she said that the meetings “gave good insight into how the organisation interacts with local stakeholders as well as the biosphere’s contribution to local sustainable development”; understands that the GSA Biosphere has already engaged in partnership programmes, including in Germany, Finland, and the Basque region in Spain; sincerely applauds the GSA Biosphere team for helping Scotland have global reach for conservation and climate action, and wishes everyone involved in the GSA Biosphere, and all biospheres around the globe, every success in their aims of enhancing nature for all to enjoy.