Social-ecological systems have steadily evolved from expert-led management towards community involvement. In line with the upcoming engagement of youth as a separate stakeholder group within the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, this scoping literature review provides an overview of studies currently existing in regard to youth within UNESCO biosphere reserves. By using a sequential and qualitative selection procedure, an analysis is made of the involvement of youth within UNESCO biosphere reserves. Hereby theoretical backgrounds and methodological approaches are clustered, and recommendations for future inquiry are made. Seven articles were selected for full-text in-depth analysis. In line with specific youth definitions and delineations found within the selected articles, most studies do not include high levels of participation in biosphere reserve research or praxis. Results show that it is considered essential to create a structured multi-method research plan adopting an adaptive research approach throughout the process of data collection and integrate a system theory approach to include all relevant contextual factors. The literature review concludes that there exists a research gap of youth within the UNESCO biosphere reserves framework. Thus, the recommendation is made for the explicit inclusion of the essential aspect of youth as explicitly stated and separate entities within future biosphere reserve research.
Truyers, Y. & Abelshausen, B. 2022
