OECM recognition depends on evidence. But what counts as credible evidence – community monitoring, citizen science, academic research, official data, or some combination – is also a question of governance.

Countries are answering that question in different ways. This session draws on a Wyss Academy synthesis of OECM implementation in Kenya, Madagascar, and Thailand and brings that analysis into conversation with the practical experience of country representatives and participants.

Between evidence gathered at a site, formal national recognition, and international reporting lies a series of decisions about what information is accepted, who has authority to assess it, and whose knowledge informs the process.

The experience of Kenya, Madagascar, and Thailand illustrates different pathways. The session will use those differences to explore what credible recognition and reporting require – and how communities can participate not simply as sites being assessed, but as actors in the decisions that shape recognition.

The discussion will examine what counts as credible evidence for OECM recognition, compare national pathways in Kenya, Madagascar, and Thailand, and consider what it takes to move site-level evidence into national and international reporting.

It will also ask a more fundamental question: how can evidence generation support meaningful participation by the communities and other actors who steward these landscapes?

The session opens with a short synthesis of the three-country assessment, followed by contributions from country representatives on what recognition looks like in practice and where bottlenecks remain. A moderated discussion will then invite participants to bring in experiences and cases from other countries.

A networking coffee follows the session.

Government representatives, technical and research partners, and practitioners working on OECM recognition, biodiversity data governance, and implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Co-organized with the Government of Kenya – Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry; Government of Madagascar – Ministère de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable; and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).