Can citizen science complement official data sources that serve as evidence-base for policies and practice to improve water quality?

Abstract

Addressing environmental issues in policy making requires recognising these issues as part of a complex socio-ecological system. The evidence base for such policies and associated monitoring and implementation measures, as well as related official indicators, statistics and environmental accounts are receiving increasing attention. This paper explores the potential of citizen science as a non-traditional source of data to complement the current data production process for evidence-based policy-making, using pollution of surface waters and its effect on associated ecosystems as an example. The paper develops a framework that helps to explore the official data production process in relation to different purposes of environmental policies. This highlights different challenges that the current official data production process sees itself confronted with in relation to the different purposes of the policies and associated monitoring regimes. These questions are explored with reference to the case of evidence-based policy making on water quality of surface freshwater in the EU, with a focus on Luxembourg. The analysis is based on extensive documentary analysis and literature review, as well as a series of interviews and participatory workshops with various stakeholders, and first results of a pilot project work with engaged citizen volunteers to solicit data on water quality with a focus on its nutrient content. On this basis, this paper argues that citizen science has the clear potential to meaningfully contribute both to the evidence base for policy and practice, as well as to an improved governance process.

Digital innovation in citizen science to enhance water quality monitoring in developing countries

“…Further, the ecosystem collapses at the Aral Sea (Micklin 2007) and Azraq Oasis (Whitman 2019) provide grim examples of the disastrous consequences (e.g., loss of fisheries, water supply, biodiversity, tourism, and cultural heritage) of unabated exploitation and disregard for freshwater systems (Dudgeon 2019). The concept of how human societal and economic goals are embedded in a complex socio-ecological system (Njue et al 2019;König et al 2021) which is reliant on nature and functioning ecosystems was neatly illustrated by a recent depiction of the Sustainable Development Goals 1 (SDGs) by the Stockholm Resilience Centre (Figure 1).…”

“…While this process is still valuable in many instances, it typically requires experts at every step, and becomes expensive and time-consuming, leading to it being done infrequently at low spatial resolution (Gholizadeh et al 2016;Ahmed et al 2020;Jan et al 2021;Silva et al 2022;Zainurin et al 2022). Consequently, data collected institutionally are often outdated; uncoordinated in terms of data collection and handling protocols (thereby limiting comparability); not representative of fine-scale (especially of smaller water bodies and streams) or localized issues; may miss issues that are temporally distinct such as crop spraying or pollution spills; and can be slow to influence decision-making (Behmel et al 2016;König et al 2021;Manjakkal et al 2021;Arndt et al 2022;Wu et al 2022). These drawbacks greatly detract from the ability to understand complex catchment-or fine-scale processes and significantly reduce the power of trend analysis (Ouma et al 2018;O'Grady et al 2021).…”

“…As Alender (2016) puts it, "Citizen science projects generally have several overlapping goals that yield benefits in three major categories: outcomes for scientific research such as data collection; outcomes for participants including education and new skills; and outcomes for social-ecological systems such as conservation, stewardship, and policy". Embedded in these benefits, citizen science can also lead to longterm investment in environmental ideologies, as well as research and policy interest (De Filippo et al 2021;König et al 2021). The quantitative value of these benefits is hard to estimate or measure, but there is a strong contention that under the right circumstances, they may be equally valuable to quantitative data generation (Conrad and Hilchey 2011;Jalbert and Kinchy 2016).…”

“…It is also encouraging that many of these initiatives provide open access to online data free of charge as a cause for the common good. Engaging with modern technologies for citizen science is essential to meet the SDGs and broadly address many societal and ecological issues, particularly given the large volume of credible, high-resolution data required alongside the need for wider involvement and education in science (Paul et al 2018;Njue et al 2019;Trouille et al 2019;König et al 2021). Indeed, Lukyanenko et al (2020) stated, "Conducting research in citizen science also heeds the call within the information science discipline to conduct research that promotes or supports environmental sustainability through innovative information technologies".…”

Governing-by-the numbers – Résumé after one and a half years

“…The pillars and dimensions that construct the new SPI. 15 swer to this question is unfortunately all too often truncated. This begins with the interpretation of what characterises statistics as a science.…”