The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a certification scheme aimed at contributing to global efforts to conserve 30 percent of the Earth’s terrestrial and aquatic areas by 2030.
The Terrestrial Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM) certification is part of efforts to meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s goal, dubbed the “30 by 30” target.
Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) told a news conference that protected areas and OECMs are recognized as effective conservation that can add up to the target.
Photo: CNA
Most protected areas in Taiwan are public or national land, as the incorporation of private land often faces pushback, he said.
OECM sites are not legal nature reserves and use of the land would not be legally restricted, as long as their biodiversity resources can be sustainably conserved, and local cultural, spiritual, social and economic values can be preserved, Lin said.
“They are places where humans and nature coexist and would not exclude the ‘people element’ the way traditional [nature reserve] enclosures do,” he added.
Government-led conservation and development of private land biodiversity resources can be traced to the introduction of the Satoyama Initiative in 2011, which guided local residents in managing and protecting natural resources based on the concept of community forestry, Lin said.
Although Taiwan is not a UN member, the government is committed to achieving the “30 by 30” target and is planning for several new protected areas, he said.
About 19 percent of the more than 1.5 million hectares of national forests have already been demarcated as protected areas, including national parks, Lin said, adding that a large part of national forests are protection forests, which are less explored and could be included.
Aside from these existing or potential protected areas, more public or private land would be included through the terrestrial OECM scheme to meet the target, he said.
Based on the previously launched Taiwan Ecological Network Construction Project, natural resource governance areas, indigenous peoples, local communities, urban green and blue spaces, and conservation corridors would be prioritized for OECM certification, Lin said.
Other potential OECM sites, such as green space in science parks or industrial areas, could also be repurposed as refugia or ecological stepping stones, he added.
Nature Conservation Management Division technical specialist Chang Chin-chia (張晉嘉) said people and legal entities can apply for OECM certification.
Candidate OECM sites cannot be located within a protected nature reserve and should align with as many biodiversity values as possible, he said.
They are required to have a management system that is effective in the long run and must obtain consent from primary stakeholders about the certification and management plan, Chang said, adding that the first application session has started and would run through Aug. 15.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) said that ecological conservation and natural sustainability should not be limited to nature reserves or national forests.
“Anyone who owns land, whether it is in the countryside, in the mountains or in a city, has the opportunity to take part in ecological conservation — that is the spirit of OECMs,” she said.
Asked whether OECM certification would be accompanied by legal protection, Lin said that OECM sites would not have extra protection from the government, as they are not protected areas.
The goal is to facilitate biodiversity resource conservation through the help of the public and prompt them to internalize the spirit, he said, adding that companies would also support the policy, as they can include OECM investments in their environmental, social and governance reports.
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