Many areas outside national and regional protected area networks contribute to the effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity. Appropriately recognising, reporting and supporting such areas is increasingly important in the context of biodiversity loss and climate change. Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognised early in the CBD’s Strategic Plan (2011-2020) that ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs) offer a significant opportunity to achieve this aim.
Decision 14/8 of the 14th Conference of the Parties defines an OECM 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.
The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Task Force on OECMs has published guidelines to assist Parties in interpreting and operationalising Decision 14/8 and to start to develop a body of good practice around recognising and reporting OECMs. It is designed for application at various scales, ranging from understanding whether an individual area is an OECM to reporting OECM statistics at the national and global level as a means to assess progress on achieving conservation targets.
The guidelines include a screening tool recommending four tests to determine whether an area qualifies as a candidate OECM. There are marine examples of what might qualify as an OECM and areas that might not qualify.
For example “Fishery closures, and other spatial fisheries management tools, including, but not limited to, fishing quotas or catch limits, temporary set asides or gear restriction areas with a single species, species group, or habitat focus, that may be subject to periodic exploitation and/or be defined for stock management purposes, and that do not deliver in- situ conservation of the associated ecosystems, habitats and species with which target species are associated” might not qualify as OECMs. The guidelines recommend that such areas should be considered as contributing to Aichi Target 6.
To read the guidelines click here.
Also relevant is a report published by the IUCN-CEM Fisheries Expert Group on Area-based management tools and marine fisheries. Click here to read the report.