Analysis of governance types and the role of communities on other effective area-based conservation measures in Colombia

Colombia has made considerable efforts to accomplish the Aichi target 11, by strengthening current protected areas and establishing new ones in ecosystems poorly represented on the national protected area system. Nevertheless,... [ view full abstract ]

Colombia has made considerable efforts to accomplish the Aichi target 11, by strengthening current protected areas and establishing new ones in ecosystems poorly represented on the national protected area system. Nevertheless, it is well known that countries will hardly achieved the Aichi target 11 by 2020 if they do not take into account Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures - OECM. The IUCN´s World Commission on Protected Areas, specifically the Task Force on OECM, is working to establish criteria to recognize those measures and avoid misunderstandings on the issue. In those areas, conservation should be de facto, and could include areas where conservation is partial, voluntary or even ancillary.  

 In Colombia, several efforts have been made to increase visibility and recognize different conservation strategies, some of them known as Complementary Conservation Strategies. These measures include different governance arrangements and can range from private lands to community-managed territories.

The aim of this work is to presents a collection of representative cases, as well as an analysis of the criteria and the screening tool that was proposed by the IUCN, in order to identify the areas that could be consider as an OECM. We present a compilation of cases, with different types of governance and located in different ecosystems of the country, highlighting the role of the communities on their conservation and how the cases could be replicated and strengthen.

 The analysis provides a feedback the UICN proposal and to give advice to other countries about the threshold on identifying and recognizing different measures. Some considerations in issues such as reporting, monitoring,  and management of these areas are made.

 We propose some steps to continue the process: Compilation of information on OECM, promote the recognition of different forms and levels of governance; include all the stakeholders in the discussion; creating awareness on the role and importance of OECM on biodiversity conservation.