New Typology Maps How OECMs Could Strengthen Global Conservation Networks

Areas conserved outside formal protected-area networks are emerging as a quiet but potentially decisive force in the push to protect 30 percent of the planet by 2030. A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution presents a global assessment of how these sites, known as other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), structurally contribute to conservation networks, and finds that while their current connectivity benefits are modest, most sit close enough to protected areas to offer substantial consolidation opportunities in the future.

Their numbers are growing rapidly as countries seek tools to meet the 30 by 30 target, but their actual contribution to systems of conservation areas has remained unclear. To fill this gap, researchers led by Roshan Sharma, Cassandra van der Velden and Carly Cook developed a typology of the structural roles OECMs can play in conservation networks: enlarging, connecting, buffering and aggregating protected areas.

Applying this framework to spatial data for 6,234 OECMs reported across 14 countries, the team found that nearly one-third of OECMs directly adjoin and enlarge protected areas. A smaller subset, roughly 3 percent, connect or buffer isolated protected areas or aggregate fragmented ones. Although OECMs currently make limited contributions to increasing connectivity, the analysis revealed that two-thirds of them lie less than 10 kilometres from a protected area, providing opportunities to consolidate conservation networks in the future.

The typology offers a simple, policy-relevant lens on an otherwise diffuse category of conservation sites. By classifying each OECM according to whether it extends the footprint of an adjacent protected area, bridges gaps between isolated ones, cushions their edges from external pressures, or knits fragmented patches into clusters, the framework quantifies contributions that conventional area-based accounting would miss. The authors describe their analysis as a global assessment of how OECMs strengthen conservation networks, aimed at maximising the benefits of area-based conservation as countries pursue the 30 by 30 target.

Subject of Research: How other effective area-based conservation measures structurally contribute to protected-area networks worldwide

Article Title: Other effective area-based conservation measures may enhance global conservation networks

Article References: Sharma, R., van der Velden, C., & Cook, C. N. (2026). Other effective area-based conservation measures may enhance global conservation networks. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-03222-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-03222-y

Keywords: OECMs, protected areas, 30 by 30, conservation networks, connectivity, biodiversity, spatial analysis, Nature Ecology & Evolution, typology, area-based conservation, Other, effective