On 15 July 2019, the Small Grants Programme(SGP) together with the Japan Biodiversity Fund (JBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Governments of Bhutan and Costa Rica, Institute for Global Environmental Studies (IGES), and UNU-Institute for Advanced Study, organized a side event during the 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York. The event announced the further implementation of the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) programme to ensure sustainability of community-based initiatives that have been successfully implemented for the past decade through integrated landscape management approaches.

Speakers and participants welcomed the continuation of COMDEKS and concluded that the inclusive approach of the Satoyama Initiative together with initiatives such as COMDEKS could provide a firm basis for the implementation of the SDGs, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as for the preparation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

At the event, Professor Kazuhiko Takeuchi, President of IGES and Senior Visiting Professor at the UNU-IAS, highlighted the Satoyama Initiative and IPSI’s contributions to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNU-IAS hosts the Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative(IPSI), a network of over 200 organizations working to implement the Satoyama Initiative.

Concrete country examples were presented by Ambassador Doma Tshering, Government of Bhutan, who highlighted the work of the SGP and COMDEKS in the Gamri Watershed project in Bhutan, and Ambassador Christian Guillermet Fernandez, Government of Costa Rica, who shared examples of community ownership as an essential part of conservation solutions in Costa Rica.

Mr. Wataru Suzuki from the CBD Secretariat presented the Japan Biodiversity Fund as a key tool for capacity building in developing countries, while Ms. Yoko Watanabe, Global Manager of SGP introduced the achievements and future plans of the COMDEKS Programme. Supporting remarks were also delivered by Vice Minister Satoru Morishita, Government of Japan; Mr. Stephen Gold, UNDP; and Ms. Astrid Schomaker, European Commission.

Photo by IISD

Speakers and participants welcomed the third phase of COMDEKS and concluded that the inclusive approach of the Satoyama Initiative together with initiatives such as COMDEKS could provide a firm basis for the implementation of the SDGs, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as for the preparation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.