 early 1990s when a Heritage Coast Service was formed to manage two defined Heritage Coasts which have similar boundaries to the AONB, the Hartland Heritage Coast and the North Devon Heritage Coast. This service went through a number of name and remit changes, first renamed as the Northern Devon Coast and Countryside Service, and then as the North Devon AONB and Biosphere Service. The establishment of the North Devon AONB Partnership in 2004 led to the service being split to become two separate entities, the North Devon AONB Service and the North Devon Biosphere Service.
UNESCO sets out three functions of a biosphere reserve: conservation, learning and research, and sustainable development. Biosphere reserves aim to create and maintain sustainable communities where people can live and work in an area of high environmental quality; these areas can then provide a blueprint for other areas to learn from. The reserve must be environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. To achieve this, the reserve oversees management of natural resources, initiatives to develop the local economy, and an effort to reduce inequalities between people.
Biosphere Reserve Partnership
The management of the biosphere reserve is undertaken, on behalf of local authorities and stakeholders, by North Devon's Biosphere Reserve Partnership. The group is composed of a number of interested parties including the Ministry of Defence, Devon County Council, the Environment Agency, Natural England, some educational institutions, national park authorities, representatives from northern Devon commerce and industry, local farmers and fishermen, Devon Wildlife Trust, and the National Trust. The partnership was formed to encourage cooperation between the relevant local authorities in fulfilling their commitments to North Devon's Biosphere Reserve. The partnership is required by the statutory framework for biosphere reserves, the UNESCO Seville 95 Strategy, to develop vision and strategies for the effective functioning of the reserve.
Its remit includes several large-scale projects which have been developed through the partnership. A£1.8 million improvement project along the River Taw, funded by the Environment Agency, is designed to decrease polluted surface runoff from fields and urban areas into the river. The project will restore habitats and remove obstacles such as weirs which prevent animals from freely moving between sections of the river. The decrease in pollution is also hoped to increase beach quality in places such as Instow, which failed water quality tests in 2012, one of only sixteen beaches in the South West to fail. A Nature Improvement Area proposed to protect and enhance the catchment of the River Torridge—home of Tarka the Otter in Henry Williamson's book of the same name—was chosen by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as one of twelve nationally important landscapes which will receive funding to restore and recreate ecosystems in the area. Other large projects work to use the natural environment to offset the negative impacts of human activities within the Biosphere.
The predominant farm type in Devon is livestock farming, which includes dairy, lowland cattle, and sheep farms. In 2006, the total labour force on Devon farms was 23,240 people, with around 7,953 employed full-time. The majority of land within the biosphere reserve is farmland, which helps support the local economy, but is not designated with statutory protection. The reserve is therefore managed carefully with the cooperation of farmers and landowners; as the boundaries of the reserve are the catchment areas of the River Taw and River Torridge, extra precaution must be taken in protecting water supplies from nonpoint source pollution. Rainwater can accumulate residues of fertilisers, especially nitrates and phosphates. Once leached into the rivers they can affect the river ecology through eutrophication, causing damage to plants and animals. This is one of the most pervasive water quality problems in Europe. Pathogens excreted by animals can a