Transformative Pathways Guidance Documents

Introduction to community-based environmental monitoring.

This guide is for the local organisations working with communities (e.g. community-based organisations and local non-governmental organisations), which are facilitating Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs and LCs) to design and implement environmental and biodiversity monitoring activities on their lands. The guide includes approaches and considerations for all aspects of environmental monitoring, but with a particular focus on biodiversity monitoring in response to the needs and priorities set by partners of the Transformative Pathways Project.

The guidance is also available in Spanish, French, Swahili and Thai.

Ensuring the sustainability of customary use on Indigenous and community-held lands

This guide is for local organisations (e.g. community-based organisations and trusted local non-governmental organisations) which are supporting Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP & LCs) in their desire to assess the sustainability of natural resources on their lands (both terrestrial and marine), and implement activities to ensure that this use is sustainable, where necessary. It can also be used by Indigenous Peoples and by local community groups directly. In this guidance, we’re looking at sustainability simply as making sure natural resources are used in a way that doesn’t decrease their amount, ensures nature can keep working properly, and aligns with community understandings about responsibilities to future generations.

This guidance is also available in Swahili, French, Spanish and Thai.

Community-based monitoring of river health and biodiversity.

For Indigenous Peoples and local communities, rivers are not just sources of water—they are also essential for fishing, cooking, travelling, and sustaining daily life. In many cultures they also have deep spiritual significance. Where rivers become unhealthy, the impacts on people’s health, cultures and wellbeing can be very substantial, and environmental impacts can also be significant. This guide for Indigenous Peoples and local communities presents a variety of options for monitoring the health of local rivers and the biodiversity that they support.

This document is also available in Thai, Spanish, and Swahili.

Community-based monitoring of freshwater turtles

This guide, which is supplementary to “Community-based monitoring of river health and biodiversity,”  outlines six stages in setting up and carrying out community-based monitoring of freshwater turtles.

This document is also available in Spanish.