Editing Man and the Biosphere Programme (section)

==Programme's structure==
{{Further|World Network of Biosphere Reserves}}
Participating countries establish MAB National Committees that define and implement each country's activities. MAB currently operates through 158 national committees established among the 195 member states and nine associate member states of UNESCO.

The agenda of the MAB programme is defined by its main governing body, the International Coordinating Council. The MAB Council consists of 34 member states elected by UNESCO's General Conference. The council elects a chair and five vice-chairs from each of UNESCO's geopolitical regions, one of which functions as a rapporteur. These constitute the MAB Bureau.

The MAB Secretariat is based at UNESCO's Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris.<ref>[https://pub.norden.org/nord2024-023/nord2024-023.pdf  Nordic Council of Ministers website, ''UNESCO Biosphere Reserves – A Path to Local Holistic Sustainability'', page 13 (2024)]</ref> It works with field offices at national and regional levels. MAB is funded by UNESCO and mobilizes funds in trust granted by Member States, bilateral and multilateral sources, and extra-budgetary funds provided by countries, the private sector and private institutions.