Working Towards a Just and Equitable Target 3 in South Asia: Subregional Workshop on Target 3 for South Asia

Text and photos by Meenal Tatpati , Research and Policy Associate at Women4Biodiversity

Between the 29th to the 31st of July to the 1st of August 2024, Meenal Tatpati, Women4Biodiversity’s Research and Policy Associate, attended the Subregional workshop on Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework for South Asia as a representative of the CBD Women’s Caucus. The workshop is the fourth in a series of sub-regional capacity-building workshops to facilitate the effective implementation and timely achievement of Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) organized by the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in collaboration with the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People. This workshop was convened in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and was held in Kathmandu, Nepal. On the 1st of August, ICIMOD also held a Workshop on Leveraging the Prospects and Potentials of Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures for Transboundary Cooperation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

The workshop had a packed agenda, addressing the understanding of critical aspects of Target 3 (including those related to human rights, equity and governance, current and proposed indicators in the Monitoring Framework, and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures or OECMs) and hearing from Parties to the Convention about the status of protected and conserved areas as well as the major gaps and challenges towards increasing coverage and the quality of protected areas and OECMs in South Asia. The High Ambition Coalition also introduced its 30×30 Solutions toolkit. Another aspect of the workshops was facilitating peer-to-peer experience-sharing and discussions on the potential regional and subregional implementation networks to support effective, timely and ‘well-connected’ implementation and achievement of Target 3. It was conducted as a participatory workshop with a mix of presentations on various issues, hands-on exploration of the virtual tools and indicators on Target 3, and exercises to collectively support an in-depth and critical understanding of Target 3. The workshop was attended by delegates from India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal and representatives from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, Women and Youth, Academia and Civil Society Organisations, informing various aspects of achievement of Target 3. 

During the workshop, it was reiterated that GBF built on the Aichi Targets put forth an ambitious mission to take urgent steps to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Target 3 of the GBF builds on Aichi Target 11 by ensuring that at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. It lays down three approaches towards achieving this ambitious target: Protected Areas, Other Effective Areas Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) and Indigenous and Traditional Territories. Globally, the progress towards Aichi Target 11 has been slow, with up to 16% Protected Areas and around 8% marine protected areas being conserved (Protected Planet). However, most countries from South Asia represented at the workshop reported achieving Aichi Target 11 of more than 17% coverage of terrestrial areas as Protected Areas. Many were still finalising their national targets in line with the GBF and holding consultations with ministries and several stakeholders to identify national targets. Many countries are looking at OECMs to fulfil Target 3. However, apart from Maldives, the criteria and guidelines for OECMs have not been finalised. Several delegates also pointed out that due to the history of Protected Area legislation favouring “inviolate” conservation models, OECMs are being looked at with apprehension by local communities. 

Another notable lack in the statistics presented for total protected area coverage was the lack of recognition of the territories and areas conserved by Indigenous People’s and Local Communities (also called ICCAs or Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas). These areas cover at least 38 million km2 across 87 countries, and intersect with many ecologically intact landscapes, as well as management categories like Protected Areas and OECMs. Therefore, there is a need to recognise these territories as contributing to Target 3 efforts while ensuring that the rights of communities over these areas are recognised as respected as well and the efforts towards conservation as well as the achievement of Target 3 is achieved through their full and effective participation in decision-making. However, some countries categorically pointed out that the term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ is not recognised in their Constitutions and that community-conserved areas were represented in existing categories such as Village Forests or other categories under existing forest legislations. Nevertheless, representatives of indigenous and local communities across the region (represented by Bangladesh, India and Nepal) spoke about the importance of recognition and respect of their rights while Target 3 was being implemented in their respective countries. They believe that it is paramount to have laws and policies to recognise and protect customary governance systems, based on international human rights standards, which are already at the forefront of holistic conservation practices.

Workshop: Achieving Target 3 Beyond Boundaries Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), on 29 July 2024 to 01 August 2024 at ICIMOD. Photo: Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD.

Meenal laid down some crucial steps towards the gender-responsive implementation of Target 3. She urged delegates to implement the core principles of Target 23 which included, without which Target 3 could not be achieved meaningfully. These include,

• The full recognition of all women and girls’ rights over and access to land and natural resources
• Ensuring their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy and decision-making related to biodiversity. 
• Acknowledging the immense pressures faced by women and girls in protected areas including threats of eviction due to inadequate tenure rights recognition, sexual violence and militarisation; and to ensure that this was not perpetrated due to the hurried implementation of Target 3 without human rights safeguards. 

An interesting concept put forward by ICIMOD during the four-day event was the concept of transboundary OECMs for South Asia. Transboundary conservation is a process of cooperation to achieve conservation goals across one or more international boundaries. This could become an important arena for achieving Target 3 as well-connected conservation landscapes and also foster cooperation between nation states towards conservation. ICIMOD facilitated a day towards engaging delegates in co-envisioning areas and pathways to achieve this in South Asia. Important ideas on connectivity, shared governance mechanisms, and cooperation emerged from these activities. 

At the end of the workshop, participants deep-dived into the opportunities and priority actions that needed to be taken towards achieving Target 3 in South Asia. These included the continued progress towards participatory framing of guidelines of OECMs and then working towards their identification and recognition, ensuring that Indigenous People and Local communities, women and youth are engaged in decision-making and management of protected areas and OECMs, strengthening cross-boundary cooperation to achieve target 3 including through communication and capacity-building and involving private sector into financing conservation initiatives with due regards to safeguards. The participants also had an opportunity to present their work and forge deeper connections and networks at a WorldCafe event. 

The author (far right) with fellow members of the ICCA Consortium from China, Myanmar and Nepal.

About the author

Meenal Tatpati is a researcher with a keen interest in the jurisprudence and governance mechanisms of forests. Her earliest work has been with research and advocacy on the implementation of the Forests Rights Act in India and its relevance in the governance of Protected Areas and the unrealised potential of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) provisions. Some of the highlights of her work have been documenting the life stories of the women of the Dongria Kondh community in Odisha, India and the Raika pastoralist community in Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. Meenal also coordinated the national-level Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy Process from 2014 to 2017 in India. She was part of the global Academic Activist Coproduced Knowledge in Environmental Justice (ACKNOWL-EJ) network of academic scholars engaged in action and collaborative research with local communities on environmental issues, and part of the Rangelands and Pastoralism Territories of Life Group within the ICCA (Indigenous Peoples and Community Conserved Territories and Areas)-Consortium as a research associate. Meenal has an LLB and a Master in Environmental Sciences. Away from work, she is an amateur birdwatcher and photographer and is also learning not to take herself too seriously!