Citizens’ science is A powerful tool To involve more people in research. By influencing politics, it is Transform conservation at the global, national and local levels.
The science of citizens actively encourages non-sciences to be part of the scientific research process. Sometimes the Terminology becomes confusing. We say “non -scientific”, but by participating in citizen scientific projects, people become scientists – they are simply not professionally involved in research.
It should also be noted that the “citizen” of citizens’s science is completely unrelated ideas for national citizenship. In simple terms, it is the science of people for the people.
Citizens can participate in Each step of the research process. According to the project, participants can write research issues, choose methods, collect data, analyze and interpret results and share research as much as possible. By expanding people’s understanding of scientific problems and solutions, citizens’ science can act as a powerful catalyst for change.
It already has an impact in many disciplines, including conservationby approaching obstacles to the change of policy such as the lack of evidence and the low levels of Public commitment and contribution. Although it is not yet common for citizen sciences to directly influence politics, in our research We have seen how citizens’ science can shape politics on each scale: by promoting policy, monitoring progress towards policy or defense of the application of policies.
At the local level, citizens’ science can influence politics and transform conservation sciences. THE Clean Air Coalition of West New York is a group of citizens concerned about odors and smoke, and their link with chronic health problems in the community. The group collected samples in 2004 To determine what was in the air and presented this data to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the American environmental protection agency.
In response, the DEC monitored air pollutants in four places in the city of Tonawanda for a year Between 2007 and 2008 – A survey that has constituted the basis of compliance monitoring and regulatory actions. Consequently direct of citizens’ science, Tonawanda Coke Corporation agreed to improve operations, monitor leaks and upgrade pollution controls. In December 2019, the levels of carcinogenic benzene had dropped 92% since the end of DEC sampling in 2008.
Citizens’ science can also work at the national level. For example, the Big Butterfly CountManaged by the charity of butterflies conservation, encourages people in the United Kingdom to defend the conservation policy by counting butterflies.
More than 25 days in July and August 2024, 85,000 volunteers recorded their observations, with alarming results. The numbers of medium butterflies were at their The lowest in the 14 years of the history of the survey.
The charitable organization and its citizen scientists called the British government To prohibit pesticides that can harm butterflies and bees. And on January 23, 2025, the government confirmed that, for the first time in five years, an emergency request for the use of a neonicitinoid pesticide on the sugar beet in England will not be granted.
The government stressed that The decision was “based on solid assessments of environmental risks and benefits, health and economic” and, although it is not explicitly declared, it is clear that scientific citizens have contributed to these evaluations.
Go to the world
Citizens’ science also contributes to data to international conservation policies. For example, the UN integrates the scientific data of citizens in two of its greatest environmental policy frameworks: the Sustainable development objectives (ODD) – A set of objectives to put an end to poverty, protect the environment and promote prosperity for all people – and the Kunming-Montreal agreementthat Stop and drop in reverse biodiversity.
As part of our work at the European Branch of the Research Organization of the Earthwatch Institute, we are involved in a global water quality surveillance project called Freshwater. This project managed to initiate communities and governments in Sierra Leone and Zambia To collect data on the proportion of rivers and lakes with good water quality in a country. Over time, this indicator can be used to measure progress towards the ODD for clean water and sanitation.
Earthwatch Europe,, CC by-NNDD
Currently, only five of the 231 indicators used to measure the progress of SDGs include citizen scientific data. But recent research suggests that such projects could help up to 33% of these indicators And More than half of the 365 indicators For the global biodiversity framework.
And even when citizen science data is not used in the official monitoring of policy, it can always transform the science of conservation by educating people and allowing them to plead for change.
THE Large British Waterblitz is a national example of this. Waterblitzes is four -day campaigns in which volunteers assess the quality of the water from rivers, ponds and local lakes, using simple but reliable test kits for nitrates and phosphates.
Nitrates and phosphates naturally occur in the environment and are essential for plant growth. But high concentrations found in wastewater and agricultural runoff trigger a process called eutrophication: a proliferation of algae which leads to increased levels of bacteria and, therefore, a decrease in oxygen concentrations, which harms aquatic plants and animals.
Sasha Woods / Earthwatch Europe,, CC by-NNDD
Our team has used such test kits in river watersheds for over 10 years, but recently extended to a campaign on the UK. In September 2024We have organized our biggest event to date, with 4,500 participants investigating on 2,300 locations. This created a national freshwater health snapshot on a granular scale, which we used highlight the hot pollution points to the Environment Agency (EA).
Although this data is not yet used for official surveillance or the development of the conservation policy, its contribution to the improvement of water ecosystems is increasingly recognized. As deputy director of EA for Monitoring, insight and innovation said the guardian: “The Environment Agency values the contribution of the growing network of citizens of England and welcomes the British Grand Waterblitz and other initiatives that complete our own research, monitoring and evaluation work.”
Despite the demonstration of valuable contributions to research – in particular by providing robust data sets – citizens’ science is still faced with several challenges. The commitment, motivation and retention of volunteers are at high intensity of resources and the science of citizens is not particularly well funded.
And even if citizen science methods are frequently validated by laboratory scientists, decision -makers can always hesitate to integrate it into their surveillance executives, due to often unfounded concerns about the quality and reliability of data.
But the science of citizens already influences conservation. This will only increase as political decision -makers recognize him as a Legitimate and precious scientific approach. And because there are citizen scientific projects worldwideAnyone can be part of this positive change.
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