Speakers from across South Asia presenting on regional experience of OECMs
On October 19th, 2020 Melissa Payne, SEARRP’s Assistant Director of Policy, joined a virtual meeting on Sharing Regional Experiences on ‘Other Effective Conservation Measures’ (OECMs) to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 11. This meeting was a part of the Global Partnership on Target 11, and was hosted by UNDP India, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the National Biodiversity Authority, Government of India; and the CBD Secretariat. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the importance of identifying, mapping and reporting OECMs in a bid to accelerate the achievement of Target 11 by the end of 2020. It also used the opportunity to share experiences on the work being undertaken on identifying OECMs in different countries and regions.
SEARRP Assistant Director of Policy, Melissa Payne presenting on OECMs in the Malaysian Context.
Melissa Payne presented on the OECM project that SEARRP is currently implementing to give perspective of how OECMs might work in the Malaysian context. This project is a 2 year initiative, supported by GEF Small Grants Programme, that collaborates with local partners to explore the potential of an OECM approach in achieving Malaysia’s commitments to Target 6 of the National Policy on Biological Diversity which corresponds to the internationally accepted to Aichi Target 11. Target 6 is a Malaysian National Policy on Biological Diversity that aims by 2025 for at least 20% of terrestrial areas and inland waters, and 10% of coastal and marine areas are conserved through a representative system of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. The project’s primary focus is to determine if this policy and the institutional pathways that support it, are robust enough to contribute to the establishment and effectiveness of OECMs in Malaysia. This gives a special opportunity to enable inclusion of partners, strengthen conservation outside of protected areas, and improve landscape connectivity.
SEARRP wants to extend a big thank you for including us in this interesting and informative meeting. It was incredibly helpful to hear what other countries in South Asia are doing in order to implement OECM into their conservation programmes.
For more information on this exciting project visit our website here.
