The Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC) and the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ) co-hosted an event that shared best practices illustrating the success of the Community Development and Knowledge Management Programme for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) – and its outlook on the future as it enters its fourth phase.

The public-private partnership (PPP) event convened on 13 February 2024 in Tokyo, Japan, and online. It was organized in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS).

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) coverage of the event highlights that COMDEKS was launched in 2011 as a flagship programme of the Satoyama Initiative. COMDEKS “aims to drive local action for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity while supporting livelihoods and well-being in Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS).” Phase 4 of COMDEKS will support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), including Target 2 on restoration of at least 30% of degraded lands, Target 3 on the “30 by 30” goal to expand conservation of biodiversity in 30% of the landscapes and seascapes globally by 2030, and Target 10 on sustainable use of biodiversity in agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry.

The event presented insights from COMDEKS case studies in Cambodia and Costa Rica, illustrating how “economic diversification can create synergies with the restoration of landscapes and enhancement of biodiversity.”

In his keynote speech, Tsunao Watanabe, Director, International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), said IPSI membership has grown from 51 to 314 members since 2010, and reflected on the success of the COMDEKS programme with over 400 community-based projects in 20 developing countries. He reminded participants that the GBF’s vision of living in harmony with nature requires fast and transformative change to reverse ecosystem degradation and unsustainable consumption.

Akiko Yamamoto, UNDP, described UNDP’s engagement in COMDEKS and outlined the inherent links between socioeconomic development and environmental protection. 

Summarizing Phase 4 of COMDEKS, Diana Salvemini, UNDP, said MOEJ and KCNC are funding the programme with a total of JPY 1 billion (about USD 6.7 million) until 2027. She noted that COMDEKS Phase 4 will support implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), focusing on GBF Targets 2, 3, and 10, as well as SEPLS. She highlighted multi-stakeholder participation as an essential aspect. 

Carlos Espinosa, technical consultant on SEPLS and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) in Costa Rica, presented on the landscape approach to ecosystem restoration in the Jesus Maria River Basin. Navirak Ngin, SGP, and Socheath Sou, Executive Director, Live and Learn Cambodia, presented their experience with COMDEKS in the Stung Siem Reap watershed.

Concluding the event, David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, in a video message, congratulated the COMDEKS partners on the launch of Phase 4 and emphasized the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach inherent in the GBF. [ENB Coverage of PPP Event of COMDEKS Phase 4]