The COMDEKS project, an IPSI collaborative activity implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) along with other partners, has been supporting local community activities for sustainable development utilizing the concept of the Satoyama Initiative since 2011.

For this newsletter, our colleagues at UNDP have shared updates on the continuing implementation of COMDEKS as follows:

“An agreement was reached in 2019 between the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ) to extend the “Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative” project for a third phase running from 2020-2021. Phase 3 of COMDEKS is currently focused on promoting the institutional and financial sustainability of a range of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS). Building on the two preceding phases, ten participating countries from Phase 1 and 2 (Bhutan, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Fiji, Mongolia, Niger and Turkey) were identified to participate in COMDEKS Phase 3. 

Phase 3 of COMDEKS includes an effort to assess the possibility for SEPLS to be recognized as “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs) under the terms of the CBD COP14, held in Egypt in November 2018, where state parties approved a definition and guidance on the role of OECMs as part of official reporting on protected and conserved areas. Building on the experience of COMDEKS Phase 1 and 2, it was agreedthat primary focus of the third phase of the COMDEKS program will be to promote sustainability and upscaling of SEPL conservation approach, including with efforts to (a) promote sustainable use of biodiversity and its integration into the management of land, forest, and water resources (COP 12 Decision XII/18); (b) provide further guidance on the concept of sustainability in food and agriculturewith regard tobiodiversity, and to promote and strengthen support for relevant information-sharing and technology transfer among Parties (COP 13 Decision XIII/3); and (c) where relevant, institutionalize these SEPLs as other effective area-based conservation measures (COP 14 Decision XIV/8).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and postponement of the CBD COP15 to be held in Kunming, China, in late 2021, the project has been further extended until early 2022. Despite these challenges, COMDEKS 3 has been able to promote active knowledge sharing through the organization of a series of national and sub-national virtual and in-person hybrid policy dialogues for sustainability and best practices on SEPLS. Lessons learned from the implementation of COMDEKS Phase 3 will be widely disseminated through the global network of 127 country programmes participating in the GEF Small Grants Programme, managed by UNDP, the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), and other partners worldwide.”