The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) recognizes Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs & LCs) as rights holders, custodians of biodiversity and indispensable partners in achieving the Framework's vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050. Delivering this vision requires monitoring systems that recognize Indigenous knowledge, customary governance institutions and territorial stewardship as critical sources of evidence for biodiversity implementation, monitoring and reporting.

Despite growing commitments to inclusive biodiversity governance, most biodiversity monitoring systems remain centralized, externally designed and largely disconnected from Indigenous knowledge systems and community governance structures. Consequently, critical information on biocultural diversity, customary governance, ecosystem health, territorial stewardship and community wellbeing is often overlooked in the implementation and monitoring of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and reporting under the KMGBF Global Monitoring Framework.

To address this gap, through the GEF-7 Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI) Mid-Ewaso Ng'iro River Basin Subproject in Northern Kenya and its partnership with The Engine Room's Matchbox Programme, IMPACT Kenya is co-designing a Community-Based Monitoring and Information System (CBMIS) informed by Indigenous-led biocultural data. The initiative builds on the ICI’s investments toward efforts in promoting “hands-on” experiential learning that enables IPs and LCs to define and demonstrate inclusive models of conservation across the 7 socio-cultural regions of the world. 

Through this, ICI in Kenya is supporting the self-strengthening of Indigenous territorial governance through the development of Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs), Biocultural Maps, Biocultural Resource Management Plans (BRMPs), biocultural research, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, biocultural calendars, customary governance institutions, community security and wellbeing assessments, land governance processes, ecosystem restoration monitoring, and other community-generated evidence; to strengthen Indigenous-led conservation. Together, these biocultural datasets provide a holistic understanding of Indigenous Peoples' relationships with nature, their governance systems, stewardship practices and contributions to biodiversity conservation.

These biocultural data sets form the foundation of the Community-Based Monitoring and Information System (CBMIS). Co-designed with Indigenous communities through the technical support of The Engine Room's Matchbox Programme, the CBMIS serves as a digital monitoring and information platform for collecting, managing, analysing, visualizing and reporting community-generated evidence. Guided by the principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty, the platform enables communities to monitor biodiversity, ecosystem health, governance, livelihoods and cultural indicators while ensuring community ownership, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), responsible data governance, secure data management and role-based access to information. Designed for interoperability, the system also supports integration with national biodiversity information systems and reporting processes, enabling community-generated evidence to inform biodiversity planning, implementation and decision-making.

By transforming Indigenous biocultural data into actionable evidence, the CBMIS will strengthen adaptive management, support Indigenous decision-making and enhance implementation, monitoring and reporting of Kenya's NBSAP, as well as, that of the KMGBF. The approach contributes directly to the implementation of CBD Article 8(j) and the Programme of Work on Article 8(j) by recognizing Indigenous knowledge systems and customary institutions as integral to biodiversity governance, while advancing KMGBF Targets 1, 2, 3, 20, 21, 22 and 23 through community-led monitoring, inclusive governance, knowledge sharing and rights-based conservation.

This side event will showcase how Indigenous-led biocultural data, operationalized through a Community-Based Monitoring and Information System (CBMIS), can strengthen biodiversity implementation, monitoring and reporting by placing Indigenous Peoples at the centre of evidence generation, adaptive management, decision-making and accountability. It will share lessons from Kenya's Inclusive Conservation Initiative on integrating Indigenous knowledge, digital innovation and community-led monitoring into national biodiversity governance, offering a scalable model for implementing and reporting on the NBSAP and KMGBF while upholding Indigenous rights and Indigenous Data Sovereignty.