Audubon and 30x30: Practical Solutions for Conservation

Birds, like people, depend on healthy ecosystems to thrive. Protecting and effectively managing these places can help sustain bird populations, strengthen communities, support livelihoods, and make ecosystems more resilient in a changing climate.

That is the promise behind 30x30, the global commitment to effectively conserve and manage 30 percent of the world’s lands, inland waters, and seas by 2030. Countries that are parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the goal as Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which represents one of the world’s most ambitious conservation goals. 
 

Turning Global Goals into Conservation Action

Across the Americas, Audubon and our partners have decades of experience conserving, restoring, and managing ecosystems for birds and people. That experience shows there is no single path to effective conservation.

Successful approaches reflect local ecosystems and land use, as well as the priorities and knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples, local communities, land managers, and governments who steward the land. From Indigenous-led protected areas to conservation on working lands, these approaches can protect important habitat for wildlife like birds while helping communities make meaningful progress toward their national and global 30x30 goals. 

Audubon’s believes effective 30x30 implementation should draw on this range of practical, locally appropriate approaches and deliver lasting conservation outcomes. Our CBD 30x30 policy briefs share lessons from conservation experience across the Americas and highlight actions governments and partners can take to benefit birds, biodiversity, communities, and the climate.
 

Practical Approaches to 30x30

Indigenous-Led Protected Areas

Indigenous-led protected areas can play an important role in conserving critical habitat for birds while helping countries reach their 30x30 targets and advance other priorities, including protecting migratory species and meeting national climate commitments, such as those that fall within their National Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.

Approaches vary by country and community. They may include officially recognized Indigenous Territories or Reservations that integrate biodiversity into conservation and management plans, Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas created with biodiversity conservation as an objective, or areas may be co-managed by Indigenous Peoples and national and/or subnational governments. Longterm success also requires sustainable financing, which can come from a range of sources, including dedicated trust funds or public budgets, tourism revenue, sustainable resource use fees, crediting mechanisms, grants, and other options.

Read Audubon’s Policy Brief on Indigenous-Led Protected Areas

Conservation on Working Lands

Farms, ranches, and forests can provide important habitat for birds while continuing to support the people and communities who depend on them. Recognizing and strengthening conservation on these working lands can be an important part of achieving lasting 30x30 outcomes.

In appropriate circumstances, portions of working lands managed to achieve long-term conservation benefits may qualify as an “other effective area-based conservation measure," or OECM, and contribute toward national and global 30x30 targets. Some governments have already established processes for formally recognizing OECMs, creating opportunities to recognize conservation already occurring on agricultural and forest lands and encourage additional conservation. Further consideration of working lands may identify even more opportunities to meet 30x30 goals. Helping support this, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre has a global database of OECMs that includes their individual screening processes, providing insights in how practices and recognition processes differ across landscapes and countries.

Read Audubon’s Policy Brief on Conservation on Working Lands

More Approaches Coming Soon

Audubon will continue highlighting practical approaches for effectively conserving and managing lands and waters, drawing on lessons from across the Americas to advance lasting benefits for birds, biodiversity, communities, and the climate.
 

Building a Path to 30x30

Meeting the 30x30 global target and national conservation goals will require many approaches adapted to different ecosystems, communities, and conservation needs. Audubon’s experience across the Americas demonstrates that effective conservation can take many forms, but it must deliver lasting results for the birds, people, and places that depend on healthy ecosystems.

By sharing these lessons and advancing practical solutions, Audubon is working to help governments, communities, and partners turn ambitious global commitments into lasting conservation outcomes.