With the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Thailand’s joining of the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, Thailand has committed to the 23 targets of the GBF, including target 3, the “30×30” target. Complementary to nature conservation through Protected Areas, Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) are viewed as a viable option to recognise and enhance biodiversity conservation. Since the concept has not been applied in Thailand so far, Thai stakeholders with support from different organisations including GIZ are now embarking on a process of defining how OECMs can be implemented.

An OECM is a geographically defined area that achieves long-term in-situ benefits for biodiversity. While biodiversity conservation is the main management objective of a Protected Area, this objective may be secondary or ancillary to an OECM. This may be the case on sites on land and in water, such as sacred sites, military areas, shipwrecks, buffer zones around Protected Areas, and others, but has to be determined case by case and based on the specific country, both in-country and on-site.

Under the lead of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), there has been a series of workshops and events that have served to bring stakeholders together and discuss gaps and needs to operationalise the OECM concept in Thailand. The process brings together relevant experts from Thai line agencies such as ONEP, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), or the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) along with expert inputs from academia and NGOs as well as strong engagement from international organisations, including GIZ Thailand through the Climate, Coastal and Marine Biodiversity (CCMB) project.