Written By Vinod B Mathur, Ruchika Tripathi and Ruchi Pant

India is among the 17 megadiverse countries of the world. With only 2.4 % of the world’s land area, and a long coastline of about 7,517 km, India harbours 7-8 % of all recorded species, including nearly 50,000 species of plants and over 1,00,000 species of animals. The country’s economy and the livelihoods of millions of people are dependent on the conservation and sustainable use of these biological resources.

Recognizing the need to address the biodiversity and climate crises, India has made significant strides in bringing over 22% (terrestrial) and 5% (coastal and marine) area under the protected and conserved area network through the government’s efforts of establishing National Park, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserve, Community Reserves as well as through Reserved Forests.

As a member of the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, India needs to extend its conservation and restoration efforts to meet their 2030 goal. Through its Nationally Determined Contributions, India is also committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

Since there is limited scope of expanding the network of protected areas, India is looking at areas outside this network to contribute to the effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity and act as effective carbon sinks. To this end, Other Effective Area Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) are a new, innovative approach, where effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity is achieved mainly as a by-product of other management. OECMs operate in addition and are different from the traditionally defined/designated protected areas. They have the potential to play a major role in promoting biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration, complement existing protected areas across landscapes and seascapes, and contribute to achieving ambitious conservation and climate targets. OECMS are mentioned in the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and in the upcoming Target 3 under the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Recognizing their conservation potential, OECMs were included in India’s National Biodiversity Target 6.

Benefits of OECMs

OECMs have the potential to contribute to ecologically representative and well-connected conservation systems, integrated within wider landscapes and seascapes, and in doing so, generate a range of benefits, such as:

• Supporting a range of governance and management mechanisms for conservation led by stakeholders other than the Government such as the communities, local healers, community-based organisations, corporates, women and youth and co-management models.
• Providing recognition to traditional knowledge, social practices, and cultural and spiritual beliefs, that promote effective and equitable use of biological and genetic resources. This recognition also positively impacts their sustainability.
• Conserving important ecosystems, habitats and wildlife corridors.
• Restoration of degraded agricultural, forest and pasture lands.
• Supporting the recovery of threatened species.
• Maintaining ecosystem functions and securing ecosystem services such as:
  • Rejuvenation of springs and water bodies, aquifers, and improving ground water table
  • Conservation and promotion of agro biodiversity leading to food and nutritional security.
• Enhancing resilience against threats.
• Retaining and connecting remnants of fragmented ecosystems within developed landscapes.
• Promoting recreational benefits and responsible tourism.

OECMs gaining momentum in India

Since OECMs are a part of global and national biodiversity related targets and commitments, the Government of India is keenly pursuing the OECM mechanism to expand India’s biodiversity conservation and eco-restoration agenda.

The Government of India (GoI)with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has developed a 14-category classification. A wide variety of sites in India have the potential to become OECMs. Based on a number of ecological and social characteristics, they can be terrestrial, waterbodies, and marine, including sacred groves, unique agricultural systems, biodiversity parks, industrial estates, coastal waterbodies, and important marine biodiversity areas. In terms of management structure, potential OECMs in India can be government managed, community managed, privately managed, and co-managed.

he Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, National Biodiversity Authority of India and UNDP-India along with other partners are in the process of identifying, mapping and documenting OECMs in India, many of which have been identified through GoI-UNDP’s existing database of ecosystem-based solutions and India Biodiversity Awards. Aravalli Biodiversity Park, Haryana, was officially recognised as India’s first OECM site on World Wetlands Day 2022.

Examples of Potential OECMs in India

Below are a few examples of OECMs from India, highlighting the involvement of community, cooperative and corporates in their ownership and/or management.

Aravalli Biodiversity Park, Haryana

The Aravalli Biodiversity Park is located at the Delhi-Gurugram border and covers an approximate area of 392 acres. In 2010, an NGO formed by concerned citizens, IamGurgaon (IAG), initiated the ecological restoration of the highly scarred and denuded patches of an abandoned mining site within the Aravalli range, by developing it into a Biodiversity Park. With the generous engagement of corporates, more than 50 schools, thousands of children and citizens, about 1,45,000 plants of over 200 species have been planted in the park. In 10 years the area has been transformed into a lush green forest through the concerted efforts of the citizens and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG). While the park is owned by the State and is governed by the MCG, the day-to-day management of the park was looked after by IAG until 2020. In 2021, MCG formally handed over the conservation and restoration work of the park to Hero MotoCorp for the next decade. With over 400 species of native plants species, it is envisioned as a pristine habitat for birds and wild animals of the Northern Aravalli.

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Saffron Heritage System, Kashmir

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower Crocus sativus and mainly used as a seasoning and colouring agent in food. At US$ 5 000 per kg or higher, saffron has long been the world’s most expensive spice by weight. The centuries-old saffron farming practice in and around the Pampore Karewas of Kashmir continues to inspire family farmers and local communities and provides for more than 17,000 families. Pampore has earned the title of Kashmir’s “saffron town” for growing the best quality saffron. The Kashmiri village women contribute to this agriculture heritage site through traditional tilling to flower picking over 3,200 hectares dedicated to the legendary saffron crop cultivation.

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Apatani Landscape, Arunachal Pradesh

The Apatani landscape represents an agrosystem collectively practised by the Apatani tribe in the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh. The Apatani in the Ziro valley have developed systematic landuse practices based on rich traditional ecological knowledge, which has been acquired over centuries of managing their natural resources, including their agricultural lands. Such agricultural landscapes which are developed over centuries, combine rich biological diversity with human ingenuity to provide local livelihoods and nutrition. The tribe has the unique paddy-cum-pisciculture, comprising a composite of rice cultivation along with fish culture. The agro-ecosystem of the Apatani provides for the in-situ conservation of sixteen traditional paddy varieties of unique grain characteristics and nutrition values.

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Coromandel Birds Paradise, Andhra Pradesh

Coromandel International Limited, one of the largest manufacturers of complex fertilizers in Andhra Pradesh, has maintained this wetland (1.2 km² greenbelt, 0.4 km² water bodies) in one of its manufacturing units in the coastal city of Kakinada. The area is governed by Coromandel International Limited and managed by the company’s Biodiversity Committee. The conservation efforts have transformed the area into a thriving bird habitat for resident as well as migratory birds from across the globe. Nearly 97 bird species have been recorded so far including 24 migratory species such as the black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) and curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) which have been included in Appendix II of the CMS and are listed as Near Threatened under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Save Animals Initiative (SAI), Karnataka

Set at the foothills of the Brahmagiri range, near Kodagu, SAI Sanctuary is India’s first private sanctuary. The sanctuary was established in 1992 with the primary objective of protecting the biodiversity found within the area. Prior to rewilding, the vast coffee and cardamom plantations in Kodagu had been rendered barren because of decades of destructive farming practices and deforestation for construction and development. Now, the initial 0.2 km² sanctuary spreads across 1.21 km² and houses a rich variety of indigenous floral and faunal species. The rewilding also saw the return of the Eurasian River Otter after hundred years.

Jagatpur Wetland, Bihar

The Jagatpur wetland, falling in Bhagalpur district, Bihar is a small perennial waterbody, spreading over an area of 0.4 km2. It is one of the best birding sites in Bihar in the Gangetic floodplains as it supports many threatened species, including the endangered greater adjutant stork. The wetland is mainly rain-fed, but underground seepage also contributes to its volume of water. The site is protected by local communities. A local NGO – Mandar Nature Club (MNC) and the forest department facilitate its conservation and management.

The Road Ahead

There are multiple challenges to the OECM process foremost being inadequate awareness about their importance and role in conservation of biodiversity, regulation of climate and restoration of degraded lands besides providing opportunities for livelihood generation and participatory biodiversity governance. Initiatives at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels backed by adequate resource mobilization are needed to make OECM process a means to achieve the ambitious 30 by 30 global goal. The Indian experience of categorization of OECMs for identification and designation of additional spaces required to expand the protected and conserved area estate needs to be upscaled and replicated by the CBD Parties to achieve the ambitious 30 by 30 goal of HAC for planet and people.

For more information, visit: http://india-oecm.in/

* Former Chairperson, National Biodiversity Authority of India vbm.ddn@gmail.com

** Project Associate, Environment, Energy and Resilience Unit, UNDP India ruchika.tripathi@undp.org

*** Head, Climate Change, Resilience, Biodiversity and Chemicals Management, UNdp India ruchi.pant@undp.org