Governance issues and recognition challenges of potential OECMs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In situ conservation of biodiversity is based on territories created via regulatory or contractual provisions. It is only recently that a results-based approach has been put forward. The 2011-2020 Strategic Plan on Biodiversity was the first evocation of Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECM). In 2018, the fourteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity defined OECMs, recognizing their potential contribution to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. However, many questions arise as to the applicability of this concept in diverse national contexts. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the territories potentially eligible as OECMs include territories recognized by law such as forest conservation concessions, local community forest concessions (CFCL) or industrial forest concessions. Other areas, recognized by use, such as certain village areas or Indigenous peoples and local Communities' Conserved Areas (ICCA) are also potentially eligible. Village land, ICCA and CFCL put rural communities at the centre of governance; in all other potential OECMs, administrations and private actors are the main actors. Thus, one of the challenges concerns a stronger integration of rural communities. Other challenges encompass a common definition of OECMs and the establishment of a national committee for the development of OECMs including all stakeholders, especially indigenous peoples and local communities. Currently, the land tenure security demanded by rural populations is only possible through the creation of CFCLs, but the complexity of the regulations and related procedures requires skills, know-how and financial resources that are not at the reach of most of these communities.