Restoring our relationship with nature
“The world faces a multidimensional planetary emergency of nature loss, climate change, poverty, inequality and insecurity. These are integrated crises that demand integrated solutions”, said the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Haoliang Xu, during a virtual official side event to the UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, held on 12 July 2023. Xu continued:
“It is time we truly value nature and restore our relationship with it. The Satoyama Initiative exemplifies ‘societies living in harmony with nature’ [by] contributing to locally led nature-based solutions.”
The Satoyama Initiative is a global effort to promote the sustainable use of biodiversity in the landscapes and seascapes worked in and relied upon by rural communities. One of its flagship programmes is the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Programme (COMDEKS), which has been implemented by UNDP through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) since 2011 and is now entering its 4th phase, with funding of one billion Japanese Yen (approximately US$8 million) expected across six years.
COMDEKS’ cornerstone is the concept of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes, which emphasizes the connection of local communities and Indigenous Peoples with landscapes and seascapes where human interaction with ecosystems shapes ways of living based on traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable management of natural resources. Under COMDEKS, SGP has supported nearly 400 community-based projects in 20 countries in the past decade.
COMDEKS Phase 4
In its next phase, COMDEKS will continue to support and encourage local actions that protect nature and biodiversity. It will play an important role in achieving global targets within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those related to the expansion of protected areas and ecosystem restoration. It will also support countries to implement the sustainable use of biodiversity resources under their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.
The virtual side event at the UN HLPF was organized by SGP in partnership with the Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation, Japan Ministry of the Environment, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Restoring people’s relationship with nature is urgently needed to accelerate progress towards the SDGs, as Xu highlighted. That is why the event focused on COMDEKS’ role in supporting local action and partnerships to promote the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in an inclusive and effective manner. It featured voices from both high-level experts and practitioners in the field to amplify their diverse knowledge and experiences.
Speakers’ spotlight
Japan's Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Environment, Kunisada Isato, highlighted the significant role of the Satoyama Initiative and COMDEKS in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, especially to achieve the targets of ensuring that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably and protecting at least 30% of the planet by 2030.
Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, President of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, agreed: “The Satoyama Initiative is exactly fit for this 30 by 30 [target] because we are talking not only about areas where conservation has been previously guaranteed, but we are expanding to other effective area-based conservation where enterprises, local people and Indigenous Peoples are working and doing their various practices, while trying to conserve these areas in order to meet the global challenges on biodiversity and nature conservation.”
The Director of UNU-IAS, Shinobu Yamaguchi, added that “socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes are deeply connected to local cultures, contributing to biodiversity conservation and the sustainable development of communities.”
The Director of the SCBD, Jihyun Lee, emphasized that the Global Biodiversity Framework attaches great importance to a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, noting that its success relies on action and cooperation by all levels of government and by all actors of society. “Therefore, broad partnerships among different stakeholders, such as the Satoyama Initiative, provide an essential foundation in implementing the Framework”, said Lee.
The Managing Director of Keidanren, Iwamura Arihiro, celebrated the 300 million Japanese Yen (about US$2.5 million) committed by the organization to UNDP for COMDEKS Phase 4: “It is my hope that COMDEKS will help conserve biodiversity and enhance people’s lives, thereby contributing to the SDGs.” SGP Global Manager Yoko Watanabe, who facilitated the event, shared her gratitude for this new partnership with Keidanren as well as for the long-term support from Japan Ministry of the Environment and all other COMDEKS partners.
Finally, local leaders of community-based projects supported by SGP under COMDEKS shared valuable stories from Turkey, Nepal and Cameroon at the event, which can be viewed in full on SGP’s YouTube channel.
