15 July 2019: An event on the sidelines of the 2019 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) highlighted the ways in which a community-based model of landscape management can enhance the resilience of local ecosystems, protect biodiversity and support sustainable livelihoods of rural communities.

The side event titled, ‘SATOYAMA – Society Living in Harmony with Nature: An Inclusive Approach from Communities, Landscapes and Seascapes,’ was presented by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, and co-sponsored by: the Governments of Bhutan, Costa Rica and Japan, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS).

The event shared lessons learned from the Satoyama Initiative, which envisions inclusive societies operating in harmony with nature and biodiversity in the production of landscapes and seascapes. It called for mainstreaming the landscapes and seascapes approach into national and sub-national policies, and illustrated the ways in which the Initiative contributes to implementation of SDGs 8 (decent work and economic growth), 10 (reduced inequalities), 13 (climate action), 14 (life under water) and 15 (life on land).

Speaking during the event, Satoru Morishita, Ministry of the Environment, Japan, argued that the Satoyama Initiative can provide guidance for implementing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework by promoting area-based management and conservation outside protected areas.

Kazuhiko Takeuchi, IGES and UNU-IAS, said the Initiative seeks to, inter alia, integrate traditional ecological knowledge and modern science, and explore new forms of co-management systems.

Yoko Watanabe, GEF-SGP, UN Development Programme (UNDP), explained that Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) applies a community-based landscape approach for conserving ecosystems and biodiversity, while promoting sustainable livelihoods, and has developed and implemented 20 Integrated Land/Seascape Strategies with 216 projects in 20 countries, with over 70,000 community beneficiaries.

Speakers also noted that: the Satoyama Initiative has empowered local communities through the Gamri Watershed project in eastern Bhutan; and the GEF-SGP, through COMDEKS, has promoted sustainable livelihoods of indigenous peoples, established biological corridors, and managed water resources in Costa Rica.

The International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) is a global platform aimed at facilitating and accelerating implementation of activities under the Satoyama Initiative. It was launched in 2010 to promote network, collaboration and research that contributes to the CBD, SDGs and Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS). COMDEKS provides grants to civil society and community-based organizations to catalyze participatory landscape planning and undertake projects to increase community resilience and to maintain, rebuild and revitalize SEPLS.

IISD Reporting Services is providing coverage of selected side events during the 2019 HLPF. [IISD RS Coverage of the Side Event on the Satoyama Initiative] [Satoyama Initiative Website] [COMDEKS Website]