Japan Biodiversity Fund


Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Programme

The Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Programme (COMDEKS) was launched in 2011 as the flagship programme of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI). It is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the Small Grants Programme (SGP). 

The COMDEKS Programme aims to develop sound biodiversity management and sustainable livelihood actions with local communities and contributes to achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. COMDEKS provides support to community organizations to maintain and rebuild socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) as well as to collect and disseminate knowledge and experiences from successful on-the-ground actions for replication and up-scaling in other parts of the world. 

The JBF supported three phases of the COMDEKS programme from 2011 to 2022. Between 2011 and 2018, Phases 1 and 2 were implemented in a wide variety of landscapes and seascapes in twenty participating countries around the world. These phases supported innovations identified by communities for biodiversity conservation, promotion of ecosystem services, agroecosystem management, and strengthening of governance systems at the landscape level. Throughout its implementation, the COMDEKS Programme placed great emphasis on knowledge management activities and the collection and dissemination of lessons learned to relevant audiences and policy makers from different sectors. 

Building on Phases 1 and 2, Phase 3 of COMDEKS focused on financial sustainability and upscaling of the SEPLS conservation approach to the policy level. This included efforts to promote institutional and financial sustainability of these landscapes and seascapes and to explore the option for SEPLS to be recognized as Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs).

Phase 4 of COMDEKS was launched at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) part two by UNDP, the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) and the Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation on 16 December 2022. COMDEKS Phase 4 will further support the sustainable use of biodiversity in developing countries and contribute towards the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In particular, it will support relevant community-based initiatives and upscale the work in 20 developing countries from 2023 to 2028.


Tools and guidance produced through this programme: