| Summary: | The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve concept has been one of the first conservation approaches to adopt an integrated conservation perspective (‘nature and people’), rather than focus on nature conservation exclusively. Biosphere Reserves designated before 1995 were mandated to shift their focus adequately. Pre-1995 Biosphere Reserves provide unique case studies to examine how a conceptual shift in conservation can be implemented in practice. I focus on three areas in (West) Germany (Bayerischer Wald, Berchtesgadener Land, Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer) that underwent this shift to explore implementation challenges and resulting outcomes. I find that political and administrative decision-makers reacted differently: one area withdrew, one extended its area, and one is still working on an implementation of the shift. Top-down processes of designation and objective setting, the overlaps between other conservation designations and the Biosphere Reserves, and the exclusion of local people have created challenges for the legitimacy of the Biosphere Reserves because they miss broader societal support. Clear objectives and distinctions to other conservation schemes, adequate human and financial resources, and political (local) support are important aspects to implement a conceptual shift. Researchers can support the implementation by allocating space in their theories and concepts for the integration of different knowledge types and context-specific adaptions.
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