Abstract
Citizen science has the potential to support the delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its integration into national monitoring schemes. In this study, we explored the opportunities and biases of citizen science (CS) data when used either as a primary or secondary source for SDG 6.3.2 reporting. We used data from waterbodies with both CS and regulatory monitoring in England and Zambia to explore their biases and complementarity. A comparative analysis of regulatory and CS data provided key information on appropriate sampling frequency, site selection, and measurement parameters necessary for robust SDG reporting. The results showed elevated agreement for pass/fail ratios and indicator scores for English waterbodies (80%) and demonstrated that CS data improved for granularity and spatial coverage for SDG indicator scoring, even when extensive statutory monitoring programs were present. In Zambia, management authorities are actively using citizen science projects to increase spatial and temporal coverage for SDG reporting. Our results indicate that design considerations for SDG focused citizen science can address local needs and provide a more representative indicator of the state of a nation’s freshwater ecosystems for international reporting requirements.
Highlights
Citizen science has been increasingly recognized as having a potentially important role to play in delivering the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Central to this role is the ability of citizen science to provide data for SDG indicators, which are the mechanism through which the progress of UN member states measure SDGs [1]
We examine the potential for Freshwater Watch (FWW) to contribute to indicator 6.3.2 reporting via integration into national scale water quality monitoring systems in two contrasting case study countries: (a) England (UK), where the regulatory monitoring infrastructure is well-developed with a large number of measuring sites determined for local and national requirements, and where FWW activity has developed organically through use in multiple locally-focused projects, and (b) Zambia, where regulatory monitoring infrastructure is expanding from a limited basis, and where there is a desire to expand existing FWW activity to a national scale
Monitored by Environment Agency (EA) Monitored by FreshWater Watch (FWW). Monitored by both English regulatory dataset (EA) and FWW Monitored by FWW only Monitored by EA only
Summary
Citizen science (i.e., the involvement of non-scientists in scientific research) has been increasingly recognized as having a potentially important role to play in delivering the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Central to this role is the ability of citizen science to provide data for SDG indicators, which are the mechanism through which the progress of UN member states measure SDGs [1]. This prerequisite is beyond the capacity of many countries [6] and helps explain why progress towards target 6.3, as well as other Goal 6 targets, is behind schedule and not on track to be realized by 2030 [7]
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