All You Need To Know About The Buffer Zone

A buffer zone is a region of land that separates two or more bodies of water, often between nations. Regions may be kept apart or joined using several types of buffer zones. Demilitarised zones, border zones, restricted easement zones, and green belts are among the most common forms of buffers. Sovereign states may establish buffer zones inside their borders.

Political and non-political buffer zones exist for a variety of reasons. To prevent violence, preserve the environment, screen residential and commercial areas from industrial accidents or natural catastrophes, or even isolate prisoners, they may be built up for various purposes. The existence of huge unoccupied areas created by buffer zones is becoming rare in the regions that are becoming more urbanised or congested. Let us now discuss the various other zones which are a part of the biosphere reserve. 

The zones of a biosphere reserve

The general division of biosphere reserves is into three interconnected zones, named the core region, the buffer zone, and a manipulation or transition zone to carry out the complementary tasks of biodiversity protection and sustainable use of natural resources. Let us now look at the meaning of buffer zone, core zone, and manipulation zone.

• Core zone or core area

The core area contains protected areas as a reference point for the ecosystems covered by biosphere reserves. The data from the core area help determine the long-term viability of operations or the preservation of environmental and natural quality in the surrounding region. Biosphere reserve managers may provide financial support for initiatives that benefit the reserve’s population, companies, and other stakeholders.

• Buffer zone

The buffer zone is the region that surrounds the core area or is immediately next to the core. To safeguard the core area’s conservation goals, activities are structured in a way that does not interfere with them. 

• Manipulation zone or the transition zone

After going through the meaning of buffer zone, it is time to look at the what’s manipulation zone. The transition area, or area of cooperation, or manipulation zone, is the large area outside a biosphere reserve wherein people work and habituate, using the area’s natural resources in a sustainable method. The name “region of cooperation” emphasises the importance of collaboration in achieving the biosphere reserve’s goals. 

How does the buffer zone help in conservation?

• Enhancing the water’s quality

In many nations, surface water quality is deteriorating due to the overuse of land. Although the buffer zone comprises a tiny area, its filtering impact on pollutants in the groundwater and surface water considerably enhances the agricultural watershed’s water quality.

To protect fish and other aquatic life, farmers use vast quantities of pesticides, some of which may leak into surface water, which may cause environmental harm. Sediment-bound insecticides are effectively filtered by vegetation buffers. As a preventative measure, a vegetative buffer may be constructed when pesticides are applied in excess. The buffer zone also limits the spread of heavy metals or poisons to regions already under protection. 

• Stabilisation of riverbanks

The sediment of riverbanks is impacted by the activity of such plant roots. It has stronger resistance to erosion when riverbanks are low because plant roots reach the interior of the riverbank vertically. In contrast, if the riverbanks are higher, the roots of the plants do not penetrate deeply into the soil, and the lakefront soil is not particularly stable. A vegetation buffer zone may successfully tackle the issue of water erosion and rising water levels in the long run.

Reduced surface runoff speed and increased soil water content are possible outcomes of a buffer zone’s adsorption capability. A buffer zone may improve soil water storage performance by increasing soil organic matter content and enhancing soil structure. Roots of plants help the soil hold up to waves and rainstorms, protect riverbanks from floods, and keep beaches from eroding.

Conclusion

There are a wide variety of scenarios in which the notion of a “buffer zone” may be used, ranging from demilitarised zones to whole continents, as well as from mediaeval military campaigns to worldwide air traffic. Buffer zones may also be seen, from a larger perspective, as huge territories separating geopolitical, ideological, or civilizational blocs or as aspects of an international boundary, partially governed by the institutions of the international community and including demilitarised zones. Despite their significant connection with geopolitical thinking, buffer zones are strongly linked to the attempts of geopolitical theory to be re-examined. Deterritorialised buffer zones may become a problem when conflicts become more deterritorialized in a globalised environment. New types of buffer zones are emerging to address this issue.