Community-Based Monitoring (CBM) in Practice:Digital Tools, Local Agency, and Environmental Governance Across Five Countries

Around the world, environmental governance is strained by accelerating biodiversity loss, climate impacts, and declining public trust. As the report notes, “community-based monitoring engages citizens directly… by incorporating their knowledge, observations and perspectives into natural resource management and climate action.” Danmission’s global CBM programme builds on this premise: that communities are not only the first to witness environmental change, but also essential actors in shaping the decisions that determine the future of their ecosystems. This report examines how CBM initiatives supported by Danmission in Cambodia, Myanmar, Lebanon, Tanzania and Kenya contribute to more inclusive, accountable and evidence driven environmental governance. It explores how communities generate credible data, how this data strengthens their agency, and how it can influence policy processes from the village level to international frameworks such as the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and IUCN Resolution 126. The aim is twofold: first, to understand how community-generated data and digital monitoring tools are reshaping governance relationships; and second, to identify what is needed to scale and institutionalise CBM so that community evidence becomes a routine and valued component of environmental decision making. The report analyses how communities use digital tools, how CBM strengthens empowerment and organisation, how evidence is used in advocacy and media, and what lessons emerge across contexts. It also assesses how Danmission’s work aligns with global expectations that countries must “support community-based monitoring and information systems” under the GBF.