ECSA’s ongoing advocacy: Harnessing citizen science for climate action
Anna Verones
July 29, 2024, 9:31 a.m.
As climate change increasingly impacts local communities around the world, it is essential to implement timely and concrete actions aimed at both mitigating and adapting to its consequences. Despite decades of discussion, there is often a sense that efforts remain insufficient, with too few segments of society fully committed to addressing climate change and a lack of political will and societal awareness.
Climate mitigation and adaptation are not tasks that can be tackled by individuals alone; they require collective action across diverse sectors and active participation from all stakeholders. It is crucial that citizens have access to reliable information, develop a thorough understanding of climate change, and engage in creating solutions that ensure inclusivity and climate justice.
Citizen science emerges as a valuable tool for involving citizens and stakeholders in climate debates and decision-making processes. It is a powerful force for driving climate action and empowering individuals and communities to make significant contributions toward a fair and sustainable future.
As many readers may know, ECSA is actively advocating for the use of citizen science across various topics, one of the most urgent being climate change. Recently, this message was shared with two vibrant communities, bringing together local actors from across Europe.
On June 11th, ECSA project officers Anna Verones and Dr. François Jost hosted the eighth session of the training program "How to Carry Out Stakeholder and Citizen Engagement in Practice," which focused on the use of citizen science in climate adaptation. This event was part of the training offered by MIP4Adapt, the Mission Implementation Platform for Adaptation to Climate Change, for signatories of the mission’s charter.
A practical example was showcased from the EU-funded AGORA project, where citizen science activities are conducted in four pilot regions: Dresden (DE), Malmö (SE), Aragon (ES), and Rome (IT). In these regions, citizens are actively engaged in scientific efforts to assess local climate vulnerabilities and co-create adaptation solutions. As the event occurred just days after the first two focus groups with citizens in Dresden, insights from this co-creation process were shared.
In the second part of the event, attendees engaged in a role play activity intended to demonstrate the initial steps in developing a citizen science project, including identifying key actors and strategies for engagement. The focus was on ensuring that all participants in a citizen science project benefit from their involvement, emphasising the importance of incorporating this principle from the very beginning of the project.
Turning to another significant event, on June 27th, project officer Dr. Nikita Sharma represented ECSA at the EU Climate Pact Community Forum, which aimed to spark citizen action and foster collaborations among community members. The event provided an opportunity to engage in discussions on various topics, including collaborating with local authorities, climate education, and reaching out to difficult audiences.
ECSA was invited to facilitate the breakout group on "Climate, Education, and Citizen Science", where participants shared experiences and best practices in these areas. The discussion centred around how citizen science can be better integrated into climate education and what the current challenges are in combining these two aspects. The dialogue concluded with success stories from the participants in the area of climate education.
ECSA is delighted to have had the opportunity to share the message of citizen science within these communities. We are confident that citizen science can help us all work together to make the sustainable future we dream of a reality. We look forward to further collaborations and continued engagement in these vital efforts.
Cover photo: Landscape by Clemens Tremmel (photo: Simona Cerrato). This work—as others by the same artist — is part of Sublime and has passages that are oversaturated and covered in drips of paint and others that are sliced open and left bare to challenge the idealised landscapes of the Romantic era, something the artist’s work is often associated with, and call attention to nature’s changeability.