Since 2002, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has actively supported the work with Biosphere Reserves in Sweden. The Agency has also headed the MAB (Man and the Biosphere) Committee since 2010. The purpose is to support and promote locally established work with long-term sustainable development, within a limited number of selected areas where the ecological dimensions, interact with the social and economic dimensions. Biosphere Reserves are, in the view of The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, model areas for an approach which complements the other forms of support and incentives available for the achievement of environmental goals and longterm sustainable development. It is furthermore an important part of conservation work to protect valuable environment. Decisions on Biosphere Reserves do not provide protection in the legal sense and do not in themselves provide any restrictions or increase demands on existing protected areas. The role of the areas, through coordinated planning and collaboration, is primarily to combine the conservation of particular valuable and utilised core areas within larger areas. In that all five of the previous candidate reserves are now Biosphere Reserves designated by UNESCO, the Swedish efforts can shift focus somewhat. At the same time it is important to learn from the implementation processes of the five Biosphere Reserves, in the face of continuing work and for possible new areas seeking accreditation. Evaluation is one part of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's long-term goal of disseminating experiences, good practice and effective methods for collaboration and sustainable management of natural resources. The task in brief has been to compile experiences, and to analyse the implementation processes of achieving Biosphere Reserve status in Sweden's five Biosphere Reserves. The evaluation has been carried out by Emil Sandström and Anna Olsson at the Department of Urban and Rural Development of the University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. A large number of people with different connections to Biosphere Reserves have also contributed to this work (see appendix 1). To all of the above we extend warm thanks. The report's layout and conclusions are the author's responsibility. 

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency November 2012