As countries advance Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, growing attention is being placed on the rights-based implementation challenge of establishing marine protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) while maintaining social legitimacy, tenure security, and fisheries outcomes.

While international momentum has focused heavily on large-scale marine protected areas and high seas conservation through the new High Seas Treaty, there remains a significant need for practical guidance on how community-led coastal governance approaches can contribute to national 30x30 commitments while simultaneously advancing sustainable fisheries, food security, climate resilience, and local livelihoods.

Nearshore coastal ecosystems are among the most productive and socially important ecosystems on Earth. Although they represent a relatively small proportion of marine area, they support a disproportionate share of marine biodiversity, fisheries production, coastal protection, and economic activity. Yet these areas remain underrepresented in policy, financing, and monitoring frameworks.

This side event will explore how inshore exclusion zones (IEZs), preferential access areas for small-scale fishers, locally managed marine areas, and OECMs can serve as effective and equitable pathways for implementing Targets 3 and 10 together. The discussion will highlight how these approaches can strengthen biodiversity outcomes while securing tenure rights, sustaining fisheries, enhancing climate resilience, and empowering local stewardship.

Through case studies from the Philippines, Indonesia, Honduras, and Mozambique, speakers will showcase how governments and communities are designing, governing, recognizing, and financing community-led coastal management systems that contribute to national biodiversity and fisheries objectives.

The event will position IEZs and coastal OECMs as recognized, scalable, and investable components of national 30x30 strategies by:

• Showcasing national experiences integrating community-based fisheries management, IEZs, and OECMs into biodiversity and fisheries planning.

• Demonstrating how locally led conservation contributes simultaneously to biodiversity conservation, fisheries sustainability, climate resilience, and community well-being.

• Presenting emerging global guidance, including FAO's assessment of opportunities and challenges for small-scale fisheries under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (https://doi.org/10.4060/cd9273en), as well as evolving IUCN-WCPA perspectives on implementation of Targets 3 and 10.

• Identifying policy recommendations for recognizing and resourcing community-led conservation and fisheries governance within National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and national 30x30 roadmaps.

• Exploring pathways for sustainable and inclusive finance that can support long-term management of coastal OECMs and community fisheries governance systems.

•  Supporting dialogue among Indigenous Peoples, local communities, small-scale fisheries organizations, and governments to ensure that recognition of area-based conservation measures strengthens rather than undermines existing rights, tenure, and governance arrangements.

Expected Outcomes