Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS)

The Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Programme (COMDEKS)

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COMDEKS was launched in 2011 as a flagship programme of the Satoyama Initiative, a global effort to promote the sustainable use of natural resources in landscapes and seascapes with local communities. Known as socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS), these landscapes and seascapes include many uses, from farming and fishing to forestry. Their productivity and resilience are central to the economic well-being and cultural identity of communities who depend on them throughout the world.

The COMDEKS programme provides small-scale finance through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) directly to local communities, Indigenous Peoples and civil society to implement locally led projects that enhance livelihoods and well-being, conserve biodiversity, address climate change, and support local cultures and traditional practices. In this way, COMDEKS activities not only contribute to the ecological resilience of SEPLS, but also strengthen the social and economic resilience of communities within these areas. By enhancing governance and participatory decision-making processes in local communities, COMDEKS offers a critical pathway for humans to effectively manage natural resources and live in greater harmony with nature. The programme also collects and disseminates knowledge and experiences from successful local initiatives to facilitate broader adoption by other communities throughout the world.

The first two phases of COMDEKS, funded by the Japan Biodiversity Fund (JBF) at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), were implemented from 2011 to 2018 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the SGP in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment Japan (MOEJ), the CBD Secretariat, and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Initiated in 2020, COMDEKS Phase 3 focused on the consolidation of successful COMDEKS’ experiences from Phase 1 and 2, implementing policy dialogues, and providing inputs towards the development of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, under negotiation at the CBD from 2020-2022.

COMDEKS Phases 1 to 3

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SGP Peru: Puno landscape

COMDEKS Phase 4

At the 15th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada 2022, the MOEJ, the Keidanren Nature Conservation Council (KNCC), the UNDP, CBD, UNU-IAS announced the launch of COMDEKS Phase 4. This phase aims to further expand and ensure sustainability and sound biodiversity management, governance and sustainable livelihood activities with local communities in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes. Phase 4 will seek to catalyze and drive integrated local actions to contribute to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, focusing on targets related to conservation, restoration, spatial planning, sustainable use of biodiversity, protected areas and OECMs among others. COMDEKS Phase 4 will also support the implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans at the country level through locally led initiatives. It will achieve landscape/seascape resilience through the following outcomes:

• Landscape/seascape diversity, ecosystem integrity and resilience
• Biodiversity and sustainable management (agriculture and fisheries)
• Livelihoods and well-being
• Governance and social equity

COMDEKS Phase 4 icons The COMDEKS Framework

The cornerstone of the COMDEKS community-based landscape management approach is supporting community organizations to revitalize their landscapes and seascapes through participatory land use planning that builds their awareness and capacities for governance and innovation. Communities practice an adaptive management cycle in which they first assess socio-ecological conditions, trends, problems, and potential opportunities in their landscape; identify desirable ecological, social, and economic outcomes as dynamic building blocks of resilience; plan activities in pursuit of these outcomes by boosting ecosystem productivity and sustainability and improving organizational capacities of communities to execute projects and measure results; and finally adapt their planning and management practices to reflect lessons learned and new conditions and opportunities.

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