Wildlife Conservation Society – India collaborated with the Goa State Biodiversity Board and the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) to organise a national workshop titled “Advancing India’s 30x30 Target Through Exploring Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs)“.
The highly significant national meeting took place on 26-27 June in Panaji, Goa. This consultative workshop, with a keynote address by Mr. C. Achalender Reddy, Chairperson of the NBA, judiciously set the stage to devise an implementation strategy for OECMs and provide holistic directions to achieve the ‘30x30’ target for India, while remaining vigilant of the need for both, sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity.
At the national workshop titled “Advancing India´s 30x30 Target”, the first technical session “Status Quo: Where Are We Now?” focused on the current progress pertaining to Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to conserve 30% of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine areas by 2030.
This session was primarily concerned with Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM´s), that prioritise biodiversity conservation beyond the present protected area network. The technical session featured the following experts:
Ms. Vishaish Uppal from WWF-India set a global context by “Demystifying Target 3 under the Global Biodiversity Framework”. Further, Dr. Madhu Rao from WCS & Chair of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas spoke on “OECMs: The challenge and the opportunity to effectively expand area-based conservation”. This was followed by Dr. Gautam Talukdar, WII, providing an “Overview of India’s current Protected Areas (PA) network: The need to safeguard biodiversity beyond PAs”. The final talk was delivered by Dr. Ruchi Pant from UNDP on “OECMs in the Indian context: a time for action”.
At the National Workshop on “Advancing India’s 30x30 Target”, the second technical session featured a panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) across diverse ecosystems. The session highlighted candidate OECM areas in India, from mountains to oceans, and discussed the complexities in designating these areas as OECMs.
Chaired by Dr. Aaron Savio Lobo (Wildlife Conservation Society - India), the expert panel for this discussion comprised Dr. P. Krishnan (Bay of Bengal Programme-Intergovernmental Organisation), Dr. Yash Veer Bhatnagar (International Union for Conservation of Nature – India), Ms. Vishaish Uppal (World Wide Fund for Nature – India), and Mr. Aman Singh (Krishi Avam Paristhitiki Vikas Sansthan).
At the National Workshop on “Advancing India’s 30x30 Target”, the second day focused on setting priorities towards the identification, management, monitoring and reporting on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM´s) in the Indian context.
This was conducted in an especially facilitated participatory format, where in all attendees had the chance to participate in all the thematic groups. Points that were raised were prioritized based on their importance and effort.
This prioritisation exercise will be central to the workshop, forming the basis for action planning and contributing to achieving India's 30x30 target.
