Citizen science for public deliberation of local environment policies (original) (raw)
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Citizen science and the role of natural history museums
Citizen Science
• Historically, natural history museums (NHMs) have a long history of collaboration with the amateur-expert naturalist community. A tradition of two-way knowledge sharing that continues today. • Over time, NHMs have renewed their functions within society and assumed a relevance not only for the conservation of collections, but also for engaging society in the generation of new scientific awareness and understanding of the natural world. • Natural history museums now deliver a wide range of field-based and online citizen science projects and play a central role in supporting the development of citizen science and citizen scientists. • Natural history museums have also taken a central role in establishing the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and are well-placed to both promote the field of citizen science and support capacity building within critical subject areas such as taxonomy.
From Citizen Science to Citizen Observatories. Reinforcing environmental protection in practice
Environmental Education for Sustainability and Citizen Science, 2023
In this second chapter of the learning programme, an attempt was made to link Citizen Science with COs, focusing on environmental protection. The ways in which Citizen Science can contribute to environmental protection, and particular with regard to monitoring biodiversity, was explored. The concept of COs was defined. Furthermore, a review was provided of their basic aspects and characteristics. Additionally, the relation of COs and the fields of applications with Citizen Science was examined. Finally, a selected presentation of certain established COs operating at a European level was provided.
Citizen science and conservation: Recommendations for a rapidly moving field
Biological Conservation, 2017
Research taking place at the intersection of conservation and citizen science holds great potential for advancing both fields as well as for addressing grand challenges in the field of conservation. This Special Issue highlights the work of twenty research groups actively working at this intersection and examining participant motivation, learning and action; evaluating and improving research design and data quality; and investigating conservation science applications. The results of these studies directly contribute to advancing our understanding of the role that citizen science can play in conservation. As research continues in these fields, directing our efforts toward communicating insights, creating interdisciplinary teams that use citizen science to tackle wicked problems, and improving coordination among investments in citizen science are actions likely to have the greatest impact. We invite conservation and citizen science practitioners to contribute to the dialogues initiated by articles in this Special Issue.
Engaging publics: biodiversity data collection and the geographies of citizen science.
This article addresses issues surrounding the role of public participation in expert-driven biodiversity monitoring and research, reviewing a range of cross-disciplinary insights and critiques that are important for recent debate in environmental geographies. The paper identifies normative, instrumental and substantive motivations as dimensions of such initiatives and examines the tensions within these. A key focus concerns the ‘win–win’ model of public participation in scientific research (PPSR); claims of multiple benefits from PPSR, such as increased knowledge of biodiversity issues and of participants’ local environments; claims that doing PPSR is a form of ‘social learning’; and, suggestions that engagement in science will change attitudes and environmental behaviour. The ‘win–win’ model is found to veil important issues about the politics of knowledge. These include the framing of citizenship in ‘citizen’ science, the production of certain kinds of scientific subjects within PPSR, the framing of relationships between professional and non-professional parties, assumptions about the role of ‘data’ in the rational evidenced-based process and anxieties amongst professional scientists around relations between data quality and the breadth of participation. Whilst the affective engagement with subject and the non-human world in PPSR is rich and diverse and the expert, non-expert boundary a mutable one (particularly in natural history), there is increasing contention that the win–win model for PPSR only works if we overlook aspects of these knowledge politics.
Leveraging the power of place in citizen science for effective conservation decision making
Many citizen science projects are place-based-built on in-person participation and motivated by local conservation. When done thoughtfully, this approach to citizen science can transform humans and their environment. Despite such possibilities, many projects struggle to meet decision-maker needs, generate useful data to inform decisions, and improve social-ecological resilience. Here, we define leveraging the 'power of place' in citizen science , and posit that doing this improves conservation decision making, increases participation, and improves community resilience. First, we explore 'place' and identify five place dimensions: social-ecological, narrative and name-based, knowledge-based, emotional and affective, and performative. We then thematically analyze 134 case studies drawn from CitSci.org (n = 39), The Stewardship Network New England (TSN-NE; n = 39), and Earthwatch (n = 56) regarding: (1) use of place dimensions in materials (as one indication of leveraging the power of place), (2) intent for use of data in decision-making, and (3) evidence of such use. We find that 89% of projects intend for data to be used, 46% demonstrate no evidence of use, and 54% provide some evidence of use. Moreover, projects used in decision making leverage more (t = −4.8, df = 117; p b 0.001) place dimensions (x= 3.0; s = 1.4) than those not used in decision making (x= 1.8; s = 1.2). Further, a Principal Components Analysis identifies three related components (aesthetic, narrative and name-based, and social-ecological). Given these findings, we present a framework for leveraging place in citizen science projects and platforms, and recommend approaches to better impart intended outcomes. We discuss place in citizen science related to relevance, participation, resilience, and scalability and conclude that effective decision making as a means towards more resilient and sustainable communities can be strengthened by leveraging the power of place in citizen science.
Biological Conservation, 2017
Through their unique combination of specimen collections, scientific and public education expertise, and wide audience reach and trust, natural history museums (NHMs) are obvious settings for bridging conservation science and education through citizen science. Building on over 100 years of amateur naturalist contributions to biodiversity science, a wide range of NHM-based citizen science programs have emerged recently. Yet no comparative studies of the conservation outcomes of this work exist. Here we ask, what is the evidence that NHM citizen science contributes to conservation, what kinds of programs and strategies do so, and how could this approach be better realized for conservation goals? We analyzed 44 citizen science programs across three museums (one U.K., two U.S.) to assess whether and how they contribute to conservation-relevant outcomes. We found evidence that they support conservation both directly, through site and species management, and indirectly through research, education and policy impacts. This study has implications for understanding the role NHMs can play in maximizing the socio-ecological impacts of citizen science, including bringing citizen science to new audiences, mobilizing volunteers to collect and analyze data to study species invasions and impacts of global changes, and conducting locally-relevant research in urban systems. NHM citizen science can provide multiple entry-points and levels of engagement for participants in science and access to new means of studying biodiversity, both in the field and virtually. From our findings we recommend collaboration among the research and education staff within NHMs and other similar conservation organizations, as well as partnerships with external organizations to successfully contribute to conservation outcomes.
2017
This chapter explores growing and important trends within citizen sensing, especially those linked to major initiatives that form citizens' observatories and address novel ways to engage citizens in science and environmental policymaking. On the basis of providing an overview of existing and planned citizen science and citizens' observatories programmes, this chapter identifies areas where citizen science and citizens' observatories have actively contributed to, and can be expected to see further development in, the formation of various policies in Europe. Furthermore, this chapter considers the motivations for developing citizen science and citizens' observatories and how these initiatives can contribute to awareness raising and decision support systems. We address key challenges and development needs for policy-and decision-making within the context of widespread and accessible citizen science and of the activities of citizen observatories.