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Biodiversity monitoring

Community-based monitoring and reporting is critical for understanding and conserving the world’s biodiversity. To be successful, it needs the effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities who have detailed knowledge about local territorial and ecosystems management.  

The Transformative Pathways project supports the co-development of community-owned monitoring frameworks, using a set of locally-defined cultural and biodiversity indicators and linking these to national and global monitoring and reporting of progress towards the achievement of the 4 goals and 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

people measuring a tree in a forest
Foresters carefully mark the trees for easier monitoring during a training on resource inventory mapping held in Nueva Viscaya, Philippines. Photo by Ella Carino/PIKP

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Sound as language: Biodiversity monitoring and CoMapeo’s new audio recording feature

This blog article was originally written by María Alvarez Malvido for Awana Digital. Cover photo: Ogiek women using CoMapeo in the bamboo forests of Mt Elgon, Kenya, during biodiversity monitoring training. Photo by María Alvarez Malvido. “We call it sound, but it’s actually a language. Sound…
16.09.25
Article

Bringing voices together in Cambridge on community-led biodiversity monitoring

In advance of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, on 1st of August 2025, UNEP-WCMC hosted a screening of documentary film "Mapping and Monitoring on Indigenous Territories" by  LifeMosaic, followed by a knowledge exchange session on community-led biodiversity monitoring systems with contributions from indigenous…
01.08.25
Blog

The Wampís Nation leads the repopulation of aquatic turtles in the Kankaim and Kanus river basins

As part of its autonomous territorial governance policy, the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW), together with six communities in the Kankaim (Morona) and Kanus (Santiago) river basins, is promoting a successful plan for the management and repopulation of taricayas and charapas. To…
26.07.25
Article

Communities Leading the Way: Lessons from Chepkitale and Naramam

Article and photos by Oliviah Tawarar, IIN In June 2025, Transformative Pathways held an Africa Regional Extension Workshop in Kenya, co-hosted by the Chepkitale Indigenous People Development Project (CIPDP) and Indigenous Information Network (IIN). The workshop’s objective was to explore opportunities to build on and…
30.06.25
Blog

The Ordination of the Forest and Water

When Faith Meets Understanding of Conservation Through the Pgakenyaw Way The ordination of the forest (Buat Paa) and the ordination of the water (Buat Naam) are not merely rituals involving wrapping trees in saffron robes or performing ceremonies with rivers. Instead, they are profound and…
31.05.25
Article

Tohmle Statement

This statement was developed at the 4th Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples of Asia (IKPA) Conference on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Biodiversity, and Climate Change, held on October 1-4, 2024, in Pokhara, Nepal  Asia is a region of high biological and cultural diversity, where Indigenous Peoples, play…
16.12.24

Further info

Supporting this work is ICCS, who are co-developing and piloting a suite of new biodiversity monitoring methodologies and approaches, building on local and traditional knowledge and on the technical expertise of FPP and in-country partner organisations. ICCS also provide, where requested, ongoing support to project partners and communities to enhance their customary systems of conservation and natural resource management plans. Using these monitoring systems, communities will be able to assess key biodiversity indicators such as key species, ecosystem health, traditional occupations.  

Bringing their expertise on biodiversity indicators into the project, UNEP-WCMC are supporting the development of relevant indicators to evidence the vital role that Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in the realisation of the Global Biodiversity Framework and, more broadly, in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. They also ensure synergies with the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP), a global initiative whose secretariat is provided by UNEP-WCMC.

An  Ogiek man inspects mushrooms. Chepkitale, in Kenya, has many edible mushroom varieties. Photo by Kibelio/CIPDP