Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Role of the Satoyama Initiative for Green and Blue Recovery

In line with the key theme of the 2021 HLPF, this side event will highlight the role of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) under the Satoyama Initiative in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as its contribution to the sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which is due to be presented at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the CBD in Kunming, China, in 2021.  Accelerating local action and addressing climate change issues are also key to achieving the SDGs.  The event will focus on the role of local actions as well as the landscape and seascape approaches, which promote the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in an inclusive and effective manner.  

The event will highlight how the Satoyama Initiative helps to accelerate protecting the planet and building resilience (SDG 13, 14 and 15), while also addressing poverty and food security (SDG 1 and 2), human health and well-being (SDG 3), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), building justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), and fostering partnership (SDG 17). It will also focus on how the Initiative is contributing to important elements of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework such as spatial planning and restoration, protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and productivity, sustainability, resilience of biodiversity in agricultural and other managed ecosystems.  

Following the successful high level event last year, this time, we will be hearing voices and sharing knowledge and experiences from the field, as well as promoting continued and expanded high level support and engagement to the Satoyama Initiative.  Participants in the event will share key lessons from the Satoyama Initiative, and explore ways for upscaling and mainstreaming them into global and national policy dialogues.  The event will also share key lessons learned from the COMDEKS and other initiatives under the Satoyama Initiative, to explore avenues to institutionalize landscape and seascape approaches in national and sub-national policies as a critical contribution to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, Paris Agreement and other key global agendas.  

The Satoyama Initiative

The Satoyama Initiative is a global platform that promotes societies in harmony with nature in production landscapes and seascapes. It consists of over 270 organizations, governments, CSOs, academic institutions, and private sector members. 

The Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) was launched in 2011 as a flagship program of the Satoyama Initiative and its international partnership (IPSI), a global effort to promote sustainable use of natural resources in the landscapes and seascapes with local communities. COMDEKS is funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ) through the Japan Biodiversity Fund (JBF) of the CBD Secretariat (SCBD), and implemented by UNDP in partnership with MOEJ, SCBD and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). COMDEKS activities are delivered and implemented in 20 developing countries through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), a decentralized funding mechanism implemented by UNDP with 27 years of experience providing small grants to civil society and community organizations for projects addressing global environmental issues.

The Satoyama Development Mechanism (SDM) provides small grants of up to $10,000 each to grassroots projects that maintain and enhance biodiversity in SEPLS, in line with the IPSI Strategy and Plan of Action. The SDM was established jointly by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), UNU-IAS, and MOEJ in 2013. It has so far financed 48 projects in 22 developing countries, and it coordinates activities to enhance their visibility to attract additional resources.