Background

The Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted during the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to guide a pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. Among the 23 Targets to be achieved by 2030, Target 3 was set to ensure and enable the effective conservation and management of at least 30% of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas through systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) with the recognition of Indigenous and traditional territories as the pathways to achieve this Target.

IUCN was invited by CBD Parties to provide a definition and criterion which was adopted in 2018. An OECM is defined as “a geographically defined area other than a Protected Area, which is governed and managed in ways that achieve positive and sustained long-term outcomes for the in-situ conservation of biodiversity, with associated ecosystem functions and services and where applicable, cultural, spiritual, socio-economic, and other locally relevant values” (CBD, 2018). Under this definition, OECMs offer a significant opportunity to recognise effective long-term conservation that takes place outside currently designated protected areas under a variety of governance types, including state actors and non-state actors, such as private landowners, and Indigenous peoples and local communities. OECMs, once reported, are considered equally effective to protected areas and together form part of the complementary and comprehensive systems to conserve biodiversity. The IUCN’s programme of work on Protected and Conserved Areas, has a mission to advance the recognition and reporting of OECMs as part of their overall global strategy.

In parallel, Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS), which have been promoted by the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), are defined by UNU-IAS and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) as “areas where production activities help to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services in various forms while sustainably supporting the livelihoods and well-being of local communities (UNU-IAS and IGES eds. 2015).” This concept could be considered as largely equivalent to other concepts such as the social-ecological systems approach, man and biosphere initiative, ecosystem approach that consider human-nature interconnections as a coupled system. These areas are among the areas that have great potential to be qualified and recognised as OECMs, and therefore further analysis and guidance are required. Many of these areas may well meet the definition and criterion of OECMs, and some others may instead be better placed under the adjacent relevant targets on sustainable use and harvest.

In particular, the Ninth IPSI Global Conference (IPSI-9) convened in July 2023, adopted a new Strategy and Plan of Action of IPSI for 2023-2030 (the IPSI PoA). This plan outlines five strategic objectives that will guide the work of IPSI in the coming years. For the effective implementation of the IPSI PoA, the IPSI Steering Committee (SC) endorsed the implementation structure of setting lead organisations in each strategic objective at its 21st meeting. IUCN, a member of IPSI, was appointed to the lead organisation of one of strategic objectives, “Area-Based Conservation Measures”.

In this context, this project aims to examine the potential of SEPLS to be recognised and reported as OECMs, through a capacity development and shared learning approach, to contribute to the effective implementation of the IPSI PoA.