Introduction: learning from experiences of participatory biodiversity assessment

Lawrence, Anna

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511676482.001

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Indeed, much has been written about the decline, death or ‘impending extinction’ of natural history as both an academic subject and amateur enthusiasm [ 14 – 18 ]. For Anna Lawrence [ 19 ], ‘specialist amateurs are on the decline while more generalist volunteers and environmental enthusiasts are on the rise’.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initiating and continuing participation in citizen science for natural history

Everett

Geoghegan

2016

BMC Ecol

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BackgroundNatural history has a long tradition in the UK, dating back to before Charles Darwin. Developing from a principally amateur pursuit, natural history continues to attract both amateur and professional involvement. Within the context of citizen science and public engagement, we examine the motivations behind citizen participation in the national survey activities of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme, looking at: people’s experiences of the surveys as ‘project-based leisure’; their motivations for taking part and barriers to continued participation; where they feature on our continuum of engagement; and whether participation in an OPAL survey facilitated their movement between categories along this continuum. The paper focuses on a less-expected but very significant outcome regarding the participation of already-engaged amateur naturalists in citizen science.ResultsOur main findings relate to: first, how committed amateur naturalists (already-engaged) have also enjoyed contributing to OPAL and the need to respect and work with their interest to encourage broader and deeper involvement; and second, how new (previously-unengaged) and relatively new participants (casually-engaged) have gained confidence, renewed their interests, refocussed their activities and/or gained validation from participation in OPAL. Overall, we argue that engagement with and enthusiasm for the scientific process is a motivation shared by citizens who, prior to participating in the OPAL surveys, were previously-unengaged, casually-engaged or already-engaged in natural history activities.ConclusionsCitizen science has largely been written about by professional scientists for professional scientists interested in developing a project of their own. This study offers a qualitative example of how citizen science can be meaningful to participants beyond what might appear to be a public engagement data collection exercise.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initiating and continuing participation in citizen science for natural history

Everett

Geoghegan

2016

BMC Ecol

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“…Ecological monitoring increasingly involves members of the public, amateur naturalists, volunteers, and resource-dependent communities. In collaboration with scientists, these people use simple scientific techniques to monitor populations of species, dynamics of habitats and the provision of ecosystem services (Danielsen et al 2005; Lawrence 2010). This ‘participatory ecological monitoring’ may raise environmental awareness, promote communication between stakeholders, improve environmental decision-making and contribute to assessing indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity (Ballard et al 2008; Danielsen et al 2010, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring participation in ecological monitoring in Nepal's community forests

2015

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SUMMARYMembers of the public and resource-dependent communities are increasingly participating alongside professional scientists to monitor the natural world. This study applies the contention from development studies that participatory approaches may be tyrannical to participatory monitoring of Nepal's community forests. There is a tyranny of the group because elites within the community stand to benefit at the cost of those already marginalized. In theory, tyranny is produced through the methods employed in the projects, as they promote scientific systems of monitoring at the expense of local understandings of environmental change; in practice, however, the latter aspects override official monitoring to enable effective learning from the projects. In some instances, tyranny is produced through decision-making and control, whilst, in other cases, the reverse is true and communities are empowered through their participatory monitoring efforts. Policy makers and those involved in participatory monitoring should endeavour to transform tyranny created at local and wider scales. Participatory monitoring holds huge potential in the assessment of biodiversity, natural resources and ecosystem services, but programmes and projects need to effectively deliver associated benefits of conservation and community empowerment.

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“…Case studies suggest that collaboration between scientists and local stakeholders in producing knowledge on the status of the natural resources can lead to favourable outcomes for the environment (Sheil & Lawrence 2004; Lawrence 2010), but quantitative analysis is lacking. Here we use meta‐analysis techniques to explore if public participation in environmental monitoring influences the speed and spatial scale of decision‐making and resulting action to address environmental challenges.…”

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confidence: 99%

Environmental monitoring: the scale and speed of implementation varies according to the degree of peoples involvement

Danielsen

Burgess

Jensen

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Ecology

200

121

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Summary1. Solutions to the global environmental crisis require scientific knowledge and responses spanning different spatial scales and levels of societal organization; yet understanding how to translate environmental knowledge into decision-making and action remains limited. 2. We examined 104 published environmental monitoring schemes to assess whether participation in data collection and analysis influences the speed and scale of decision-making and action. 3. Our results show that scientist-executed monitoring informs decisions within regions, nations and international conventions. However, decisions typically take 3-9 years to be implemented. 4. We also show that scientist-executed monitoring has little impact at the village scale, where many natural resource management decisions are made. 5. At the village scale, monitoring schemes that involve local people, and relate to resource utilization at the village level, are much more effective at influencing decisions; these decisions typically take 0-1 year to be implemented. 6. Synthesis and applications. Involving local stakeholders in monitoring enhances management responses at local spatial scales, and increases the speed of decision-making to tackle environmental challenges at operational levels of resource management.

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Introduction: learning from experiences of participatory biodiversity assessment

Cited by 12 publications

References 60 publications

Initiating and continuing participation in citizen science for natural history

Initiating and continuing participation in citizen science for natural history

Exploring participation in ecological monitoring in Nepal's community forests

Environmental monitoring: the scale and speed of implementation varies according to the degree of peoples involvement

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