Capturing governance impact stories in citizen science initiatives, Citizen Observatories and community-based environmental monitoring projects

Raquel Ajates, Uta Wehn, Mohammad Gharesifard, Dilek Fraisl

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

    Abstract

    Best practice in citizen science (CS) is evolving in response to societal-policy objectives based on the aspiration to bring together citizens, scientists and policy makers to advance science as well as to inform and improve policy making processes on environmental issues. While capturing impacts is a standard objective for CS initiatives, including Citizen Observatories and community-based environmental monitoring projects, capturing governance impacts is often a challenge. The barriers to capturing governance success stories are time and conceptually related. Regarding timing, governance impacts often require longer timelines to materialise compared to the average length of CO projects, meaning any tangible changes often occur after the end of project activities. Furthermore, projects tackling environmental challenges through citizen science often focus on scientific over governance objectives, either due to stronger interest in the former and/or lack of expertise, resources and clarity in the latter. We refer to governance in the context of COs as the definition of goals by a range of actors on the thematic topic that a given observatory focuses on, e.g. water quality, soil, biodiversity, etc., as well as to related decision-making processes, e.g. decisions about the monitored resource. This paper shares WeObserve’s Governance Impact Community of Practice’s methodological work on a tool that 1) has been tested to capture governance impact stories from existing CO projects 2) can support ongoing and new projects to plan ahead and build into their project design the resources and information needed to capture any potential governance impacts their activities might achieve. The template has been revised and piloted with experts in the area. Governance impact stories and insights from three case studies are shared: Making Sense, Groundtruth and WeSenseIt.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publication11th International Symposium on Digital Earth
    Subtitle of host publicationBook of Short Abstracts
    EditorsM. A. Liberti, P. Mazzetti, S. Nativi
    Pages66
    Number of pages1
    Publication statusPublished - 24 Sept 2019
    Event11th International Symposium on Digital Earth - Florence, Italy
    Duration: 24 Sept 201927 Sept 2019
    http://www.digitalearth2019.eu/

    Conference

    Conference11th International Symposium on Digital Earth
    Country/TerritoryItaly
    CityFlorence
    Period24/09/1927/09/19
    Internet address

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