Elevating the role of communities in conservation management areas

This briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the role of 'other effective area-based conservation measures' (OECMs) in Africa. It argues that OECMs, which are sites outside formal protected areas managed to deliver long-term biodiversity and socio-economic benefits, are essential for engaging local communities and achieving biodiversity targets. Through case studies in South Africa and Kenya, the document demonstrates how community-private sector partnerships can create sustainable livelihoods while protecting ecosystems, and calls for African governments to align on a community-centred conservation agenda for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP.

• OECMs are global standards agreed through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for sites outside protected areas that are governed to provide long-term, in-situ biodiversity and socio-economic benefits. Unlike protected areas, which must have a primary conservation objective, OECMs can be managed for various objectives as long as they deliver effective conservation benefits.
• In South Africa, the Nambiti Private Game Reserve illustrates a successful community-private partnership where the Senzo’kuhle Nkos’uNodada Communal Trust, representing 136 land claimants, benefits from lease fees, lodge ownership, and profits from hunting and venison sales. The reserve also contributes to provincial and national protected area targets by protecting an ecotone of Tugela Thornveld and Northern KwaZulu-Natal Moist Grasslands.
• The Dixie Community Rangeland in South Africa demonstrates the efficiency of Biodiversity Stewardship Programmes, which achieved 68% of all protected area expansion between 2008 and 2016 at a cost to the state between 70 and 400 times less per hectare than land acquisition. This specific project secured 7,600 hectares of high biodiversity rangelands and implemented ecologically informed rotational grazing.
• Kenya has utilized the 'Parks Beyond Parks' campaign and the Minimum Viable Conservation Area (MVCA) approach to expand conservation outside formal parks. The MVCA approach uses biological, economic, and social criteria to identify critical areas for biodiversity, tourism circuits, and culturally valued habitats, resulting in wildlife conservancies that now hold about 65% of Kenya's wildlife.
• Implementing OECMs faces several hurdles, including the risk of 'elite capture' of natural resources, the need for transparency to ensure benefits reach women and children, and the lack of a 'one size fits all' solution due to the diverse norms and cultural practices of different communities.
• To effectively scale community-driven conservation, there is an urgent need for innovative biodiversity-focused financing, nature-based economies for unprotected areas, and capacity building for community-operated eco-enterprises.
• The document recommends that African governments develop a common position and advocate for increased community-driven biodiversity initiatives at the CBD Conference of Parties (COP) to ensure alignment on community-centred conservation.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2021). Elevating the role of communities in conservation management areas. https://saiia.org.za/research/elevating-the-role-of-communities-in-conservation-management-areas/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Elevating the role of communities in conservation management areas. 2021. https://saiia.org.za/research/elevating-the-role-of-communities-in-conservation-management-areas/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Elevating the role of communities in conservation management areas |date=7 July 2021 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/elevating-the-role-of-communities-in-conservation-management-areas/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2021elevating, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Elevating the role of communities in conservation management areas}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2021}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/elevating-the-role-of-communities-in-conservation-management-areas/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }