India’s Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (I-OECMs)

Why in News?

The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change released the Guidelines for the Designation of India’s Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (I-OECMs), 2026, at a side event of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-17) in Yerevan, Armenia, on 3 November 2026.

What are OECMs?

• Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) are a conservation approach that recognises areas outside legally protected areas and forests where effective landscape management delivers positive and sustained outcomes for in-situ biodiversity conservation.
• They provide a framework for recognising and reporting areas that contribute to long-term biodiversity conservation even though they are not formally designated as protected areas.

Key Features of the I-OECM Guidelines, 2026

Ecosystem coverage: The guidelines cover:

• Terrestrial ecosystems.
• Inland water ecosystems.
• Coastal and marine ecosystems.

Illustrative sites: Examples of potential OECM sites include:

• Biodiversity parks.
• Sacred groves.
• Community-managed irrigation tanks.
• Seagrass and seaweed beds.
• Areas covered by seasonal fishing bans.

Mandatory criteria for recognition: An area must fulfil all four criteria:

• Outside legally protected areas: It must not already be a legally protected or conserved area.
• Governance and management: It must be governed and managed under Central or State Government frameworks or by government-recognised local institutions, such as Panchayats and Biodiversity Management Committees.
• Defined boundaries: It must have clearly defined geographical boundaries.
• No overlap: It must not overlap with any area already reported to the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA).

Source: PIB

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