OECMs are, as defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), areas outside protected areas that deliver the long-term in situ conservation of biodiversity and therefore contribute to achieving internationally agreed conservation goals. These are, for example, areas used by the military with high conservation value, indigenous territories with low human activity, or private conservation initiatives. Canada for example has declared a large area in the ocean as OECM. In 2010, the Parties to the CBD recognized that such often unnoticed areas play an important role in biodiversity conservation, complementing protected areas, and therefore the Parties committed to identifying, reporting, and promoting such areas. In 2018, the Parties to the CBD agreed on guiding principles and criteria for the identification of such areas, which were developed in part in workshops at the INA. State agencies, private entities, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are now invited to identify, recognise, support and report OECMs in ways that complement systems of protected areas.

The materials, released today by INA and WCPA, are aimed to develop worldwide capacity for identifying, recognising, supporting and reporting OECMs. After the training participants will, among other things, understand the background and justification of OECMs and be able to contribute to timely and comprehensive reporting to the World Database on OECMs.

The training material is designed to be used for face-to-face or online training led by an instructor. The training material includes instructions, learning plans, detailed training notes, presentations and films as well as some background literature. Some material is also open for self-paced distant learning. All materials are free for use by anyone interested.