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How do we achieve peace with nature?
In the run-up to the COP16 biodiversity conference, we explored how peace with nature can be achieved around the world.
Ahead of the crucial COP16 global talks on saving nature, Fauna & Flora is urging decision-makers to put more power in local hands – as a new research report indicates that locally led conservation projects have a greater impact and are more enduring.
An independent review of the evidence-base for locally led approaches to protected area management – commissioned by Fauna & Flora – says that Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) should focus more on quality of outcome rather than the quantity of land covered. One key factor in achieving quality and effectiveness is ensuring that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are part of finding and delivering solutions to biodiversity loss; and this cannot be overlooked in the drive to scale.
A global target with a local solution
The biodiversity goal of 30×30 helps focus the world’s attention on urgently halting and reversing the global decline in nature. But, for protected areas to be successful and sustainable, the approach must take into account the local context. Those living closest to high biodiversity areas are likely to have the best knowledge of their local area, and this expertise should be supported and bolstered by conservation organisations, governments and other stakeholders, not trampled over.
At the upcoming COP16 conference, Fauna & Flora is calling for a focus on the importance of human rights in conservation and recognising the evidence that initiatives that are locally led, community-driven and include Indigenous knowledge are more likely to endure.
Kristian Teleki
Chief Executive Officer
At the upcoming COP16 conference, Fauna & Flora is calling for a focus on the importance of human rights in conservation and recognising the evidence that initiatives that are locally led, community-driven and include Indigenous knowledge are more likely to endure.
Kristian Teleki
Chief Executive Officer
In many conservation target areas around the world, while large-scale, often state-run, projects are still valued as important contributors to 30×30 and nature recovery, there is a growing recognition of the need to better integrate local people into decision making, and that locally-led initiatives can make a vital contribution also. However, how well these approaches work for both people and nature is currently under-researched and data is limited.
The new report provides a rapid review of available evidence for the effectiveness of locally managed protected areas, their implications for human rights and how global conservation organisations are responding.
Bahari Moja marine litter management initiative cleaning up Kenya's coastline. © Bahari Moja
Bahari Moja is a marine litter management initiative run by local communities, cleaning up Kenya's coastline.
Many models for local involvement in conservation
Commenting on the findings, Abigail Entwistle, Senior Conservation Director, Fauna & Flora, says: “This new report evaluates the evidence-base for the effectiveness of locally led protected area management and, while we know that local leadership does not invariably guarantee success, multiple global assessments of locally-led conservation have concluded that it typically produces more beneficial outcomes for both people and nature.
“There are of course many models now being practised for local ownership, management and governance of protected areas; with varying layers of ‘local’ in locally led – from projects led by local NGOs, to those initiated and managed by local communities with NGO support, to fully autonomous community-managed areas. It’s also important to note that many effective community-managed conservation projects do not fit into the definition of ‘protected area’, and greater research and discussion is needed regarding how these areas can contribute to 30×30 and other global goals.
“It is an undeniably complex picture, with context influencing everything when it comes to conservation; there is no one solution, understanding the local drivers and barriers is key, and we must also remember that it often takes time for these approaches to bear fruit, so a long-term commitment is essential.
“Fundamentally, we know that enabling local management works for nature, but more research is needed to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of locally led protected area management, and to uncover what the key ingredients are that make this approach work for both people and biodiversity in different contexts.”
Sunda pangolin. © Leon Tolkovsky / Fauna & Flora
Sunda pangolin in the hands of a local warden, Cambodia.
Multiple global assessments of locally led conservation have concluded that (local leadership) typically produces more beneficial outcomes for both people and nature.
Dr Abigail Entwistle
Senior Conservation Director
Multiple global assessments of locally led conservation have concluded that (local leadership) typically produces more beneficial outcomes for both people and nature.
Dr Abigail Entwistle
Senior Conservation Director
Making the global local: should the drive to 30x30 be locally led?
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