Community-based Monitoring Research Articles

Screens, streams, and flows: Implications of digital platforms for aquatic citizen science

Mobile applications are developed and deployed to streamline various aspects of aquatic citizen science, including data collection, storage, sharing, and analysis. Frequently framed as the outcome of technological innovation, the “platformization” of community-based water monitoring (CBWM) involves a negotiation of technical, logistical, organizational, social, and political considerations, and the specific configurations of these intersecting factors have implications for public engagement in freshwater science and monitoring. Based on a review of the literature in platform studies, we identify challenges and risks that “platformization” may pose for citizen science. These risks include extractivism and commodification, scaling tensions, and technological solutionism. We then present five components of the “platform ecosystem of CBWM,” which we derived following a review and analysis of methods, tools, and equipment used by CBWM groups listed on two citizen science inventories (SciStarter and CitizenScience.gov). Choices about platform uptake and design have implications not only for the kinds of data that are collected, but for the nature of the participation that they elicit from volunteer participants.

Population health impact, cost-effectiveness, and affordability of community-based HIV treatment and monitoring in South Africa: A health economics modelling study.

Community-based delivery and monitoring of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV has the potential to increase viral suppression for individual- and population-level health benefits. However, the cost-effectiveness and budget impact are needed for public health policy. We used a mathematical model of HIV transmission in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to estimate population prevalence, incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) from 2020 to 2060 for two scenarios: 1) standard clinic-based HIV care and 2) five-yearly home testing campaigns with community ART for people not reached by clinic-based care. We parameterised model scenarios using observed community-based ART efficacy. Using a health system perspective, we evaluated incremental cost-effectiveness and net health benefits using a threshold of $750/DALY averted. In a sensitivity analysis, we varied the discount rate; time horizon; costs for clinic and community ART, hospitalisation, and testing; and the proportion of the population receiving community ART. Uncertainty ranges (URs) were estimated across 25 best-fitting parameter sets. By 2060, community ART following home testing averted 27.9% (UR: 24.3-31.5) of incident HIV infections, 27.8% (26.8-28.8) of HIV-related deaths, and 18.7% (17.9-19.7) of DALYs compared to standard of care. Adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years experienced the greatest reduction in incident HIV (30.7%, 27.1-34.7). In the first five years (2020-2024), community ART required an additional $44.9 million (35.8-50.1) annually, representing 14.3% (11.4-16.0) of the annual HIV budget. The cost per DALY averted was $102 (85-117) for community ART compared with standard of care. Providing six-monthly refills instead of quarterly refills further increased cost-effectiveness to $78.5 per DALY averted (62.9-92.8). Cost-effectiveness was robust to sensitivity analyses. In a high-prevalence setting, scale-up of decentralised ART dispensing and monitoring can provide large population health benefits and is cost-effective in preventing death and disability due to HIV.

The impact of community-based monitoring on public service delivery: A randomized control trial in Uganda

In many developing countries, poor delivery of public services remains an important problem. Through community-based monitoring, beneficiaries of public services can apply bottom-up pressure to under-performing service providers and their political leadership. In this spirit, the Government of Uganda organizes community fora – popularly known as barazas – where citizens receive information from government officials and get the opportunity to challenge them. We designed a cluster randomized control trial to assess the impact of this policy intervention on public service delivery in agriculture, health, education, and infrastructure. We further test the relative importance of the two main components of the intervention—information provision and citizen engagement. We also compare the effectiveness of barazas organized at the district level to the effectiveness of barazas organized at the sub-county level. Following a pre-specified confirmatory analysis, we do not find that the intervention has significant effects on general public service delivery, even though public services in the agricultural sector do improve. We discuss some of the potential reasons for this finding, including assumptions underlying the impact pathways, the political context in which the program was implemented, and challenges related to the evaluation of large policy programs.

Community-based forest monitoring for REDD+ MRV in the Ankasa Conservation Area, Ghana

A community-based monitoring (CBM) approach creates a working relationship between scientists, resource managers and local communities to address natural resource problems. This study analyses CBM data from Ankasa Conservation Area (ACA), Ghana, and assesses how such a CBM model fits into the national Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system for REDD+. Satellite imagery was used to generate land cover change maps for the different land use categories in ACA. A checklist of deforestation and forest degradation-related activities was designed with inputs from study communities. Nominated community members were trained to collect the data. The land use categories identified in the study area include closed forest, open forest, farmland, bare area, and grassland. The remote sensing data revealed significant land use and land cover changes in the periphery of ACA between 1990 and 2014. Closed forest and open forest areas recorded 28.6% and 35.0% reductions respectively. Data from the CBM showed that cash crop farms and plantations (rubber and coconut) account for the sharp increase (479.9%) in farmlands. The predominant sighting of rodents by community monitors reinforced the deforestation and forest degradation findings in the ACA periphery. A participatory MRV system is essential for the success of REDD+ interventions. With little training, local people can collect forest condition data that are of interest to REDD+ implementation and international policies related to climate change.

Biomass accrual benefits of community-based marine protected areas outweigh their operational costs

The costs and benefits of customary top-down Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been studied at length. But the costs and benefits of community-based MPAs –an increasingly common tool in conservation and fisheries management– remain understudied. Here, we quantify the operational costs of maintaining community-based MPA monitoring programs in nine small-scale fishing communities in Mexico. We then compare these costs to the potential extractive use value of invertebrate and fish biomass contained in the reserves. We find that the annual monitoring costs (median: 1,130 MXN/ha; range: 23-3,561 MXN/ha) represent between 0.3% and 55% of the extractive use value of the biomass contained in the reserves (median: 21.31 thousand MXN/ha; 5.22 - 49/12 thousand MXN/ha). These results suggest that the direct monetary benefits of community-based marine conservation can outweigh the costs of monitoring programs, providing further support for these types of management schemes. While further research should explore other mechanisms that would allow fishers to leverage the non-extractive use value of reserves (e.g., tourism) or the non-use value (i.e. existence value of biodiversity) to sustainably finance their conservation efforts, a stop-gap measure to ensuring long-term monitoring costs are covered might include limited extractive use of resources contained in the reserves.

Portable electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system stages non-alcoholic fatty liver disease for potential screening and monitoring at home.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of predicting NAFLD using multi-spectral electrical impedance tomography (EIT), group source separation, constant reference EIT and anthropometric measures. Vibration-controlled Transient Elastography (VCTE) Controlled Attenuated Parameter (CAP; n = 121) and magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF; n = 34) achieved a sensitivity of 70.9% and specificity of 73.8% with our CAP predicting model and sensitivity of 77.8% and specificity of 80.0% with our MRI-PDFF predicting model. In summary, a portable EIT can be a cost-effective and self-administrable alternative for widespread home-based and community-based diagnostic screening and treatment monitoring of NAFLD.Clinical Relevance- Portable multi-spectral EIT system has the sensitivity and specificity to potentially unlock biomedical imaging in telemedicine for home-based and community-based screening, staging and monitoring for NAFLD.

Temporal dynamics of genetically heterogeneous extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli bloodstream infections.

Extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli (ESC-R-Ec) is an urgent public health threat with sequence type clonal complex 131 (STc131), phylogroup B2 strains being particularly concerning as the dominant cause of ESC-R-Ec infections. To address the paucity of recent ESC-R-Ec molecular epidemiology data in the United States, we used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to fully characterize a large cohort of invasive ESC-R-Ec at a tertiary care cancer center in Houston, Texas, collected from 2016 to 2020. During the study time frame, there were 1,154 index E. coli bloodstream infections (BSIs) of which 389 (33.7%) were ESC-R-Ec. Using time series analyses, we identified a temporal dynamic of ESC-R-Ec distinct from ESC-susceptible E. coli (ESC-S-Ec), with cases peaking in the last 6 months of the calendar year. WGS of 297 ESC-R-Ec strains revealed that while STc131 strains accounted for ~45% of total BSIs, the proportion of STc131 strains remained stable across the study time frame with infection peaks driven by genetically heterogeneous ESC-R-Ec clonal complexes. bla CTX-M variants accounted for most β-lactamases conferring the ESC-R phenotype (89%; 220/248 index ESC-R-Ec), and amplification of bla CTX-M genes was widely detected in ESC-R-Ec strains, particularly in carbapenem non-susceptible, recurrent BSI strains. Bla CTX-M-55 was significantly enriched within phylogroup A strains, and we identified bla CTX-M-55 plasmid-to-chromosome transmission occurring across non-B2 strains. Our data provide important information regarding the current molecular epidemiology of invasive ESC-R-Ec infections at a large tertiary care cancer center and provide novel insights into the genetic basis of observed temporal variability for these clinically important pathogens. IMPORTANCE Given that E. coli is the leading cause of worldwide ESC-R Enterobacterales infections, we sought to assess the current molecular epidemiology of ESC-R-Ec using a WGS analysis of many BSIs over a 5-year period. We identified fluctuating temporal dynamics of ESC-R-Ec infections, which have also recently been identified in other geographical regions such as Israel. Our WGS data allowed us to visualize the stable nature of STc131 over the study period and demonstrate a limited but genetically diverse group of ESC-R-Ec clonal complexes are detected during infection peaks. Additionally, we provide a widespread assessment of β-lactamase gene copy number in ESC-R-Ec infections and delineate mechanisms by which such amplifications are achieved in a diverse array of ESC-R-Ec strains. These data suggest that serious ESC-R-Ec infections are driven by a diverse array of strains in our cohort and impacted by environmental factors suggesting that community-based monitoring could inform novel preventative measures.

Participatory monitoring drives biodiversity knowledge in global protected areas

Protected areas are central in strategies to conserve biodiversity. Effective area-based conservation relies on biodiversity data, but the current biodiversity knowledge base is insufficient and limited by geographic and taxonomic biases. Public participation in biodiversity monitoring such as via community-based monitoring or citizen science increases data collection but also contributes to replicating these biases or introducing new ones. Here we examine how participatory monitoring has changed the landscape of open biodiversity knowledge in protected areas using biodiversity data shared on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. We highlight a growing dominance of participatory monitoring within protected areas. We find that patterns in geographic, taxonomic, and threatened species coverage differ from non-participatory monitoring, suggesting complementarity between the two approaches. The relative contribution of participatory monitoring varies with characteristics of both protected areas and monitoring programs. We synthesize these results to derive context-specific strategies for extending the conservation impact of participatory biodiversity monitoring.

Monitoring litter on Arctic and subarctic shorelines: current status and next steps for monitoring programs

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous, and the Arctic is no exception. One important step to understand the extent of the problem, and to monitor its impact is to have repeatable, comparable, and relevant measures across time and space that allow for the detection of marine litter trends. Arctic shorelines are a critical part of monitoring efforts. Pan-Arctic monitoring of litter on shorelines is also an essential component to examine global trends. Based on previous work examining litter in some regions of the Arctic, we suggest steps towards more harmonized protocols that include community-based monitoring, crowdsourced science programs, and science team-based surveys that are specific for the Arctic. Specifically, we recommend that shoreline survey sites for long-term monitoring be established where possible and be at least 50 m and surveys carried out at regular intervals of at least twice a year by any type of research team. Criteria for the selection of sites should be grounded in Indigenous and other local community and regional priorities, and should result in representation of both remote shorelines impacted by distant-source marine litter and shorelines impacted by more local sources. Results of any Arctic shoreline litter surveys should be made regularly available either through publications which include data sets, and/or accessible databases to promote regional comparisons and trend analysis across the pan-Arctic.

EE123 Cost Evaluation of COVID-19 Remote Home Monitoring Services' Patients in England during Wave 2 from October 2020-April 2021

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS delivered a community-based remote home monitoring service for COVID-19 patients. The service came in two models characterised based on the referral method: home-based care to ensure the right people were admitted at hospital at the right time (named COVID Oximetry @ home ([email protected])) and facilitation of patients’ transition when discharged home (named Covid-19 Virtual Ward (CVW)). Patients were provided with pulse oximeters and asked to regularly record and submit oxygen levels and other symptoms to a team of administrators and clinicians via digital means (tech-enable and analogue mode) and/or over the phone (analogue). Our aim was to evaluate the costs of implementing these services in England during wave 2 of the pandemic (October 2020-April 2021). We used a top-down approach to describe the costs of setting-up and running the service. 26 sites reported the number of patients and staff members involved in the service, and other used resources. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis were used appropriately. The mean cost per patient monitored was lower in the [email protected] service compared to the CVW (£527.5 vs. £599.1). The corresponding cost was lower for sites using tech-enabled and analogue data submission mode compared to sites using analogue-only mode for both [email protected] (£515 vs. £561) and CVW (£584 vs. £612) services. The number of patients enrolled in the service and the service type significantly affected the mean cost per patient (b=0.62, p= 0.001; b=-457.99, p=0.05 correspondingly). Our analysis offers a model for future research since it covers sites of various sizes and raises questions about different practices within the overall remote monitoring services.

Avian species survey with citizen-science data in Janghang Wetland, Goyang, Republic of Korea.

Monitoring of avian populations in Janghang Wetland, Goyang, Republic of Korea (ROK) is based on citizen science (also called community-based monitoring). This monitoring data can be used to track avian density, population status and waterbird census at local, national and regional levels. The Ministry of Environment (MoE) ROK has surveyed since 1999, including Odusan Unification Tower to Ilsan Bride, which connects the cities of Gimpo and Goyang along the Han River estuary. However, it has not covered Janghang Wetland, which is located in the Han River estuary at the transboundary between the two Koreas. The Janghang Wetland is a protected wetland in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. In 2019, Janghang Wetland was designated as a Flyway Network Site by Goyang City and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership. This Network site is a voluntary collaboration and includes many internationally significant wetlands for waterbirds that still lack formal national protection. In addition, it was designated as a Ramsar site in 2021. The wetland currently supports wintering population of White-naped Crane (Grusvipio), species listed as vulnerable and Tundra Bean Goose (Ansercygnoides), spring-autumn migration population of Swan Goose (Ansercygnoid), species listed as vulnerable and a breeding population of Black-faced Spoonbill (Plataleaminor), species listed as endangered in summer. We provide data that the Janghang Wetland is a significant area for migration and breeding for waterbirds; and that Han River estuary is also internationally important for waterbirds during the migratory bird season. We observed 14 orders, 42 families and 132 species. The surveys also observed the critically-endangered Black-faced Spoonbill (Plataleaminor), Swan Goose (Ansercygnoides), White-naped Crane (Grusvipio), Whooper Swan (Cygnuscygnus) and Peregrine Falcon (Falcoperegrinus). We also observed the Black-faced Spoonbill, Great Egret, Little Egret, Great Cormorant, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Pheasant and Brown-eared Bulbul at the sensor camera point and White-naped Crane, Hooded Crane, Bean Goose, White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose, Swan Goose, Great Cormorant and Eastern Spot-billed Duck at the closed-circuit television camera point from the camera-trap surveys. Based on the species recorded, the survey area is of clear importance for biodiversity conservation.

Towards more inclusive and solution orientated community-based environmental monitoring

Rapid climate-driven environmental change continues to threaten front-line communities that rely on Arctic landscapes to sustain their way of life. Community-Based Monitoring (CBM) can increase our knowledge of environmental change and understanding of human-environment interactions occurring across the Arctic. However, the depth of CBM research outcomes have been limited by an imbalance in contributions from external researchers and community members. A detailed literature analysis revealed that the number of studies documenting CBM approaches in Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homeland in Canada) have increased over the last decade. We identify that bottom-up guiding protocols including the National Inuit Strategy on Research, has increased community engagement in Arctic research processes and equitable outcomes. However, these increases have been concentrated on wildlife-based research where consistent funding streams and pre-existing alignment with community priorities exist. To explore the potential for guiding principles to be more successfully incorporated into impactful CBM, we present a co-developed environmental CBM case study aiming to document and aid understanding of climate-driven landscape change near Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Canada since 2018. A foundation of early dialogue and collaborative partnerships between community members and external researchers formed the basis of a community-based climate monitoring program driven by community research priorities. A succession of funded CBM projects at Tuktoyaktuk demonstrated that longer term and resilient climate monitoring can bring together Scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems. Progressing beyond an emphasis on data collection is vital to sustain monitoring efforts, capacity sharing and co-dissemination processes to ensure research is communicated back in a way that is understandable, relevant, and usable to address community priorities. The need for successful CBM is often at odds with current research funding structures, which risks a fragmented mosaic of early-stage initiatives focused on understanding environmental problems rather than sustained and progressive research development towards cooperative solutions.

Pendampingan Community Based Surveilance Sebagai Upaya Pengendalian Tuberkulosis Paru di Kelurahan Bandengan

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Indonesia is among the three countries with the highest estimated incidence of TB, after India and China. Tuberculosis deaths in HIV-negative populations reach 44 per 100,000 population (WHO, 2019). Bandengan village now has 8 cases, the second highest in the Doukh Health Center's service area. In addition to the high number of new cases, public participation in programs to combat and prevent pulmonary tuberculosis is also low. Many philanthropic efforts have been put into place to help solve this problem, including Trained and formed community-based health worker monitoring teams and educated in early detection and prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis. Indicators of success for this community service included increasing residents' knowledge, skills, and independence in community-based monitoring programs, forming community-based monitoring teams in villages, and increasing community awareness and role in pulmonary tuberculosis prevention. will be the activity was held on Tuesday 24th January 2023 with her 20 participants. Partners play a central role in this activity as this service is a community empowerment activity and partners are the main actors/actors. The proposal team will act as a facilitator and companion until the partners are deemed competent and independent to continue community-based surveillance (CBS) activities to combat pulmonary tuberculosis in Bandengan village.

Public-Private Partnership For Food Security in India Through PM-Poshan Scheme

Food, water and shelter are the elementary prerequisite for human survival and their well-being. Food provides the necessary nutrients to fuel the body’s functions; access to adequate quantity of safe and nutritious food is a fundamental human right. However, India still faces challenges in ensuring food security for all its citizens leading to malnutrition, dehydration, and various health issues. Food security in India is a crucial issue that affects millions of people, particularly those living in poverty. The Government has implemented various measures to address this issue, including enactment of the National Food Security Act 2013. Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-Poshan) earlier known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme is a great measure to tackle the problem of malnutrition among children. The program is based on a multi-sectoral approach involving the health, nutrition and sanitation sectors through community-based monitoring and behaviour change communication. The Government has allocated significant funds for the program and has also partnered with various stakeholders through public-private partnership model (PPPs). Still, there are significant gaps and loopholes in the implementation of these policies. This article brings out the intermediatory role of Akshaya Patra under the PPP Model to overcome the emerging challenges towards the implementation of this scheme.

Effectiveness of community-based monitoring projects of terrestrial game fauna in the tropics: a global review

Biodiversity monitoring projects comprise key conservation strategies established to minimize biodiversity loss. Particularly, community-based monitoring projects have recently been implemented worldwide. This approach favors three conservation pillars: provision of information on monitored resource through time, local people’s empowerment, and management practices. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify all past and current community-based monitoring projects of terrestrial game fauna in the tropics, and specifically examined seventeen of those projects in terms of costs, interruption and effectiveness. We identified a total of 52 projects, mostly located in the Amazon. We revealed an annual cost of US$0.24/hectare/project, with most of these initiatives interrupted due the lack of funding. We also noticed that the absence of data analyses comprised the main obstacle for the assessment on monitored game fauna through time, while empowerment was hampered by the lack of intensive local participation at different stages of monitoring. Finally, we observed that most management actions resulted in community rules and applications, including local bylaws governing resource use. We highlight that community-based programs can be more effective if they engage local people at all monitoring stages, build solid partnerships to ensure long-term funding and translate the outcomes into management practices for the monitored fauna.

Citizen Science and Natural Resource Management: A Social Network Analysis of Two Community-Based Water Monitoring Programs

In natural resource management contexts, citizen science programs often involve a diversity of actors collaborating in broad social networks. However, the characteristics and functioning of these networks has received limited attention. In this article, we demonstrate the benefits of applying social network research to citizen science practice. Through a mixed methods approach, we compare data sharing and collaboration networks of two community-based water monitoring programs in Australia. The quantitative component revealed that despite similarities in actor diversity and activities, both programs have created divergent network structures (centralized vs decentralized) corresponding to their scale of influence in environmental decision-making (regional vs local impacts). The qualitative component showed how individuals navigated their relationships and managed key tensions inherent to network functioning. This study provides new insights on the role of social networks in citizen science and concludes by recommending program leaders adopt a “networking mindset” to maximize their sphere of influence.

Rare earth element bioaccumulation and cerium anomalies in biota from the Eastern Canadian subarctic (Nunavik)

Recent increases in the demand for rare earth elements (REE) have contributed to various countries' interest in exploration of their REE deposits, including within Canada. Current limited knowledge of REE distribution in undisturbed subarctic environments and their bioaccumulation within northern species is addressed through a collaborative community-based environmental monitoring program in Nunavik (Quebec, Canada). This study provides background REE values (lanthanides + yttrium) and investigates REE anomalies (i.e., deviations from standard pattern) across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems in an area where a REE mining project is in development. Results are characteristic of a biodilution of REE, with the highest mean total REE concentrations (ΣREE) reported in sediments (102 nmol/g) and low trophic level organisms (i.e., biofilm, macroalgae, macroinvertebrates, common mussels, and reindeer lichens; 101–102 nmol/g), and the lowest mean concentrations in higher-level consumers (i.e., goose, ptarmigan, char, whitefish, cod, sculpin and seal; 10−2 - 101 nmol/g). The animal tissues are of importance to northern villages and analyses demonstrate a species-specific bioaccumulation of REE, with mean concentrations up to 40 times greater in liver compared to muscle, with bones and kidneys presenting intermediate concentrations and the lowest in blubber. Further, a tissue-specific fractionation was presented, with significant light REE (LREE) enrichment compared to heavy REE (HREE) in consumer livers (LREE/HREE ≅ 101) and the most pronounced negative cerium (Ce) anomalies (<0.80) in liver and bones of fish species. These fractionation patterns, along with novel negative relationships presented between fish size (length, mass) and Ce anomalies suggest metabolic, ecological, and/or environmental influences on REE bioaccumulation and distribution within biota. Background concentration data will be useful in the establishment of REE guidelines; and the trends discussed support the use of Ce anomalies as biomarkers for REE processing in animal species, which requires further investigation to better understand their controlling factors.

The promise and pitfalls of community-based monitoring with a focus on Canadian examples

Community-based monitoring (CBM) is a widely used form of scientific data collection in which local community members directly participate in ecosystem research and also help the process by sharing traditional ecological knowledge and local understanding of land and resources. This paper presents a review of the challenges and opportunities associated with CBM projects in Canada and internationally. While Canadian cases are the primary focus, international examples are drawn on to provide additional context. Based on our review of 121 documents and publications, we found that CBM helps fill science research gaps by providing access to continuous data sets on the ecosystems being studied. CBM also increases the credibility of the data among users, as the community itself takes part in the environmental monitoring process. CBM supports cross-cultural learning and the co-production of knowledge by using traditional ecological knowledge with science, thereby enabling researchers, scientists and community members to learn from one another. Our review suggests that although there are multiple successes, CBM faces several challenges that constrain its progress including funding shortages, lack of support for local stewardship, and inadequate training for local users in the operation of equipment and data collection methods. Data sharing and rights on the use of data are also constraining to the long-term success of CBM programs.

Community-led non-invasive polar bear monitoring in the Eeyou Marine Region of James Bay, Canada: insights on distribution and body condition during the ice-free season

Wildlife conservation is informed by detailed understanding of species demographics, habitat use, and interactions with environmental drivers. Challenges to collecting this information, particularly in remote places and on widely ranging species, can contribute to data deficiencies that detract from conservation status assessment and the effectiveness of management actions. Polar bears in James Bay face rapidly changing environmental conditions at the southern edge of their global range, but studying their ecology has been limited by community concerns about the methods typically used in polar bear research. Using a community-led and non-invasive approach, we deployed hair snare and camera trap sampling stations across 400 km of the Eeyou Marine Region in eastern James Bay. Stations collected &gt;100 hair samples and thousands of photographs in one eight-week period that allowed for a novel investigation of this population’s distribution and body condition during the ice-free season. Polar bears were in average to above average body condition, and model selection of detections at stations revealed distance to mainland as a significant predictor of polar bear presence. Given its high potential, we suggest community-based monitoring using this method become a standard protocol to expand the scope and local leadership of polar bear research across the North.

Environmental Monitoring for Arctic Resiliency and Sustainability: An Integrated Approach with Topic Modeling and Network Analysis

The Arctic environment is experiencing profound and rapid changes that will have far-reaching implications for resilient and sustainable development at the local and global levels. To achieve sustainable Arctic futures, it is critical to equip policymakers and global and regional stake- and rights-holders with knowledge and data regarding the ongoing changes in the Arctic environment. Community monitoring is an important source of environmental data in the Arctic but this research argues that community-generated data are under-utilized in the literature. A key challenge to leveraging community-based Arctic environmental monitoring is that it often takes the form of large, unstructured data consisting of field documents, media reports, and transcripts of oral histories. In this study, we integrated two computational approaches—topic modeling and network analysis—to identify environmental changes and their implications for resilience and sustainability in the Arctic. Using data from community monitoring reports of unusual environmental events in the Arctic that span a decade, we identified clusters of environmental challenges: permafrost thawing, infrastructure degradation, animal populations, and fluctuations in energy supply, among others. Leveraging visualization and analytical techniques from network science, we further identified the evolution of environmental challenges over time and contributing factors to the interconnections between these challenges. The study concludes by discussing practical and methodological contributions to Arctic resiliency and sustainability.