Abstract
Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) have been involved in citizen science initiatives for decades, engaging with citizens with the goal of protecting and restoring our environment. Yet the data and knowledge generated and the possibilities for engaging citizens have grown significantly in the last decades thanks to the recent developments in mobile technologies and the access to internet, resulting in a transformation of how environmental protection can be done. This perspective provides some examples on how European EPAs and their partners are currently addressing key environmental challenges and exploring new institutional approaches by bringing in citizen science data and methods. It also points out challenges that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of citizen science as a complement to the monitoring efforts by these agencies. Finally, it presents the Interest Group on Citizen Science of the Network of the Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA Network), an informal forum where EPAs across Europe share examples and bring together strategic insights on citizen science approaches into their daily activities.
Highlights
Citizen science has a longstanding tradition in the environmental domain, dating back to more than 200 years, with networks of volunteers carrying out phenological observations or collecting daily rainfall data
The previous sections show a snapshot of the rich landscape of citizen science initiatives involving environmental agencies in Europe
The participation of RIVM experts is warmly welcomed by the citizen scientists, who see them as a reference for questions about air quality
Summary
Citizen science has a longstanding tradition in the environmental domain, dating back to more than 200 years, with networks of volunteers carrying out phenological observations or collecting daily rainfall data. The devolved governments and various environment agencies across the UK, including the England Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency have traditionally supported a number of well-established citizen science initiatives, especially in weather (e.g., Weather Observation Website22) and biodiversity (e.g., the National Plant Monitoring Scheme). The devolved governments and various environment agencies across the UK, including the England Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency have traditionally supported a number of well-established citizen science initiatives, especially in weather (e.g., Weather Observation Website22) and biodiversity (e.g., the National Plant Monitoring Scheme23) Data from these schemes are typically used in a wide range of applications, including reporting on the state of the environment, developing analytical tools and models as well as planning and regulatory activities. Data is often one of the lasting legacies of a citizen science project so it must be managed and stored effectively to improve the chance that the project has lasting impact (UKEOF, 2020b)
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