Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) could contribute up to 1 million hectares of land towards Germany’s Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) target to protect 30% of its land and sea by 2030 (30×30), researchers have found.
That’s according to a research paper recently published in the Frontiers in Conservation Science journal, authored by Lisa Kopsieker of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and Tilmann Disselhof of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union.
According to the paper, “together, foundations, nature conservation associations, conservation-minded private landowners, and the church own more than 1,000,000 ha of land [in Germany], a sizeable share of which could qualify as OECMs”.
OECMs are defined as areas where nature is conserved despite it not being their primary purpose and they are not being recognised as protected sites.
While such areas can contribute towards the 30×30 target set out by the GBF, it is still unclear how they will fit into the EU’s biodiversity strategy.
Under the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy (EUBSD), member states are required to submit their pledges for their protected areas targets to the European Commission.
Germany was among the few countries that submitted their pledges in 2023. However, it is still lagging behind on the 30×30 goal, as protected areas only cover 17% of its land base, the study said.
This leaves a gap of approximately 4.65 mln ha of additionally protected land, equal to 13% of the country’s land base.
“An undertaking of this magnitude will require looking beyond traditional protected area designation. In this light, private land conservation merits further scrutiny by German authorities,” the paper said.
“While private land conservation cannot and should not replace public protected area networks, it can complement them. Although PPAs are unlikely to receive legal recognition in Germany due to various hurdles, they could make an important contribution to Germany’s 30×30 pledge.”
The study called for German authorities to agree on uniform criteria and procedures regarding how OECMs are recognised, registered, monitored, and reported.
OECMs originally appeared in the 2010 Aichi biodiversity framework, though weren’t properly defined until the IUCN did so in 2015.
“Identification of OECMs offers a significant opportunity to increase recognition and support for de facto effective long-term conservation that is taking place outside currently designated protected areas under a range of governance and management regimes, implemented by a diverse set of actors, including by Indigenous peoples and local communities, the private sector and government agencies,” the IUCN said in a 2019 guidance.
OECMs already play a pivotal role in Japan’s strategy to meet the GBF target by incentivising companies to engage in biodiversity protection and conservation. In October, Japan’s environment ministry designated 122 OECMs spanning about 77,000 hectares of land.
Japan will let companies funding OECMs earn “biodiversity support certificates”, which will be designed in a way that they can be used for reporting requirements under the Taskforce on Nature-based Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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